Raw
by DoubleMMia
Summary: Being on the run gives Miranda an old friend, a new perspective and a raw sense of stumbling into the unknown of the Reapers. Takes place before and in between the events of ME3. Miranda/Kasumi, Miranda/Shepard and more. Sequel to Ramen and Cherry Lambrini.
1. A Partnership

_This story is a sequel to the Shepard/Miranda fiction of Ramen and Cherry Lambrini, this story will contain elements of: graphic violence, drug abuse, consensual sex, non-consensual sex and femmeslash. If these things are really not your thing then I understand and am fine with you not wishing to read more; thanking you kindly. :)_

_Author's Note: First off, hello old and new reviewers, hope you're having a great time playing ME3 (despite the terrible endings) like I am. Second playthrough here I come 8D But I'll be plain now, this fiction is not Shepard/Miranda despite it being a sequel to a Shepard/Miranda fiction. I know some of you will be disappointed and upset by that but who's to say I won't make more Shepard/Miranda fiction? Miranda IS my favourite character after all. There WILL be elements of Shepard/Miranda as well as Shepard/Kasumi but overall this story is Miranda/Kasumi. 'Wait wut?' I hear you say, but hear me out for a moment. I was challenged to do this fiction by a very nice friend who wanted to see if I'd be up for doing a story where Miranda and Kasumi end up with one another instead of them always pining for Shepard. At first I was like 'Hah, thanks but no thanks' but you know...I actually liked the idea. So if you can, trust in me to make this fiction and the Miranda/Kasumi pairing as believable as possible._

_Thanking you kindly!_

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><p><strong>Raw<strong>

**A Partnership**

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><p><strong>M<strong>iranda Lawson stretched with a yawn escaping from her lips, leaning back more comfortably into her chair and allowing her eyes to close in surrender to the wave of sleep that washed over her.

The sound of people bustling around the wards below her on the Citadel seemed to be the only thing that was keeping Miranda from falling asleep, which surprised her considering the amount of running and hiding she had been doing would have been enough to knock the living hell out of any other person.

Not her, no she had to be awake and fully functional and never let her guard down for a second in case something bad came to bite her back in the ass; something that Miranda herself was slowly growing used to when it came to decisions she had made in the past when she had served under Commander Shepard.

A bitter laugh escaped her throat. Oh Commander Shepard, the same Shepard who was now incarcerated by the Alliance HQ demanding answers from the Commander about the actions that had cost billions of batarian lives in just one press of a button.

Miranda hadn't even had time to say goodbye properly to the blonde Commander, only leaving with a quick promise that she would make sure the galaxy didn't go to hell whilst Shepard dealt with the Alliance's ping-pong games of politics; hardly a goodbye fitting Miranda's standards.

And Miranda _had_ been making sure of it, had been on the run as well and still she was doing all she could to make sure Cerberus didn't come crashing down onto humanity in a way that could only mean certain dangerous consequences she didn't want to think about – didn't need to think about it because with people like Kai Leng then Miranda didn't even need to think twice on the horrors that Cerberus _could_and would put on the galaxy.

So she had been running and ducking and hiding and building a somewhat programme of her own, nothing compared to Cerberus or the Alliance or even the Blue Suns or the Blood Pack but it was big enough that Miranda had some reliable resources and intel on what was happening around the galaxy; another plus of knowing the Shadow Broker and Commander Shepard she supposed.

These contacts and intel was what was keeping Miranda up right at this moment, sorting through and leafing them into little categories was a major piss-take, something the ex Cerberus agent knew she really should have got used to when she took in the amount of times she had done this on the Normandy but the lack of company also didn't do incredible things to her working performance.

Which she would never admit, the amount of times Shepard and Kasumi had burst into her office to declare something ridiculous and not worthy of her attention had almost brought Miranda to the point that she had very nearly strangled them both with her biotics.

Instead she had just cursed them both and threw the nearest thing at their retreating forms, grumbling softly each and every time she missed.

And now that they weren't here and she had all the time in the world Miranda found herself not being able to concentrate or find the will to fill out these records and establish alliances with small trading companies posted around the Citadel, the whole thing was completely aggravating and it left Miranda feeling frustrated enough that she got up quickly from her chair to slam the open window of her apartment closed.

She couldn't _sleep_. She couldn't _work_. She couldn't _think_. What the hell was happening to her? How had it all fallen apart so quickly?

Miranda glanced back down at the sheets of reports and assignments she was supposed to be looking at with a sigh, bringing up a hand to rub at her face and under her eyes to try and soothe the dark eyes away from lack of sleep due to the pressure she had been placed under.

It was obvious that what she needed was sleep yet she couldn't allow herself relax enough to let herself fall under the spell of her own drowsiness and quickly discarded the thought of sleep away as if waving goodbye to a passing thought.

Her terminal pinged then, breaking Miranda away from her illusions and thoughts to drag her back into reality to show her that another three messages had been sent (coded, just as she had requested) and that they were expecting a reply from her in less than 48 hours. Great.

Really what she needed was a bloody secretary or at least someone who could help take this ridiculous weight load off her shoulders, not that Miranda would go looking for one despite her complaints because this mission was just too important to allow anyone else to get involved; especially if said person could be working undercover for Cerberus.

Maybe what she really needed was a damn drink, it would make much more sense than being holed up in this dingy apartment waiting for Shepard's stupid ass to crawl out of the Alliance HQ and besides that she seriously doubted she would be the first thing on Shepard's mind with a whole galaxy of Reapers attacking everything.

Though could she risk it? Sure she had been perfectly safe for over two months now but that didn't mean for once second the Illusive Man or Kai Leng had dropped their game, if anything it just meant they were biding their time, waiting for her to come out of the woodwork just to be the ones to squish her under their heel like they cockroach they probably saw her as now that she had left them.

Miranda weighed up her options as carefully and precise as she always did, taking in little details of what she would have done before and after Shepard's surprising influence on her and thinking up every little scenario that could end up with either her lying face-first in a ditch or actually enjoying the splendour of alcoholic beverages running through her veins.

The former Cerberus operative ran a hand through her hair with a frustrated growl escaping her lips, chucking the datapad she had been looking at back down on her desk and making her way towards the door that would lead her out to the Citadel.

There was no point being cramped up in that apartment with her stress levels as high as a child's sugar levels after eating cake, if she was going to remain undetected then she would have to try and remain as calm, neutral and natural as everyone else around her and if that meant going out and having a drink then so damn well be it.

Making sure to lock her apartment door Miranda made her way towards the new club that had opened in the Citadel, a club that slightly resembled Chora's Den with the ironic (and by ironic Miranda meant that the name made her want to crush something with her biotics) name of Purgatory – the prison ship herself, Kasumi and Commander Shepard had rescued Jack from.

It would only be a quick drink, just one and then she was gone from the club to actually collapse in her bed sheets in exhaustion just because her own insecurity had proven to herself that she was becoming more and more capable of running away from everything; a realization that Miranda was not taking well considering the reason she was going for the drink in Purgatory in the first place.

Before she would have steeled herself against her desires and had gone back to her apartment to force herself to go to sleep, damn the consequences and all that. Now Miranda was stuck in a whirlpool of emotions and conflictions that made her feel dizzy on her feet.

Was it because Shepard was gone? No it couldn't be, sure she missed her and would do anything to be by her side but both herself and Miranda knew that they would be kidding themselves if they believed that anything was going to work between them with this war was going on so right now Miranda was stuck in the loop of not knowing where she stood anywhere really; between Shepard and the situation she was in right now.

Miranda refused to think any more about it and crossed over using a small bridge to head towards the club's entrance, completely enraptured with her rampant thoughts until something brushed against her shoulder and caused her jolt in reaction with her hands coming upwards to curl defensively into her abdomen.

Not many people noticed but the ones who did seemed to walk a little bit faster towards the club, hesitantly looking over their shoulders to stare at her as though one wrong move could end up with them being wheeled into hospital; and maybe they were right, if they were a Cerberus spy anyhow.

Soon she relaxed and continued making her way through the numerous crowds of turians, asari, humans, krogans and salarians alike until Miranda was bathed in the darkness of the entrance hall Purgatory offered, a shelter of sorts that she knew in reality would not be enough to hide her presence if a Cerberus agent really _was_after her.

It surprised her how well the Citadel workers had managed to build this club in a matter of weeks instead of what Miranda would have assumed would take months, the workers must have been pressurized to build something to try and get rid of the stressful news of the Alliance and Cerberus's actions despite these said actions being merely whispers so far.

Miranda knew how to work her way around a nightclub but tonight she felt on edge, as though she was treading on thin ice and that the walls were being pressed in around her each and every step she took; it was a feeling of fear and Miranda despised herself for feeling it and reacting in such a pathetically weak way to it.

The beat of the music thrummed through the soles of her shoes, enough rhythm to remind Miranda where she was and for her to push on forwards up the stairs towards an enclosed table that would hide her from the rest of the club's view – this was just a way she preferred it.

Sitting down with her back to the wall and her eyes peeled on the entrance Miranda waved a passing man over (one who was already taken in immediately by her mere presence), whispered in his ear to go buy her a drink and then settled back down again with her head rested against the seat's cushions.

Miranda found her thoughts wondering towards the issue at hand and how said issue was starting to nibble away at her inside; all because of her damned father and his ridiculous ways of trying (along with Cerberus) to catch her unaware and bring her in fast enough that she wouldn't cause any more trouble than she already had.

That and she was becoming increasingly worried about a group of tech experts that had seemingly vanished off the face of the galaxy what with the lack of communication she was being given and if she lost them then she lost tech, and if she lost tech then she would sooner or later fall behind into Cerberus's waiting arms.

"Bloody brilliant," Miranda mumbled with a hand coming upwards to snatch the glass the stuttering man had brought away from his hands and let it land with a thud on the table, refusing to knock the liquid back right now despite it being the reason she was here in the first place.

She waved him off with her eyes following his back, taking in the pronounced spine that she could just about tell from beneath his shirt and smirked slightly when he began to run up the stairs in the fastest attempt ever to get away. Foolish.

Movement from beside her, someone sitting down next to her, it took almost everything not to pull out her pistol but Miranda remained still and took her chances by glancing over with her anxiety quickly changing into shock at the sight of someone she thought she would pretty much never see again.

"I really would not recommend drinking that," the person next to her told her, painted lips spreading into a cheeky grin. "Seriously though, is the world full of amateurs? Even a blind hanar could tell that drink was poisoned."

Miranda bristled slightly at the implication that she hadn't known herself. "I_ know_that it's poisoned, which is why I didn't drink it. The fools of Cerberus think me so stupid? Though I probably should have gotten the drink by myself, I do fancy one."

As if the person had known immediately what Miranda had been thinking of, a gloved hand moved up with a glass of red liquid and placed it in the palm of the ex Cerberus's operative's hands with a small chuckle.

Miranda cocked her brows at her companion before she lifted the drink up, sniffed it (her nose crinkling in distaste) and chugged it down her throat with a small cough that she covered up with the press of her fingers against her lips.

Her companion beside her laughed and had the cheek to elbow her in the rips, causing Miranda to throw a glare in the person's direction.

"Maybe next time you'll warn me that you plan to give me that horrible stuff you call alcohol," Miranda said bitterly with a roll of her eyes, slamming the glass back down with her cobalt hues searching for answers in the hazelnut orbs that stared back at her. "I don't know how you and Shepard can stand the stuff, it's not even enough to get you drunk."

Kasumi Goto gave her an exasperated look from what little Miranda could tell from under her hood, sidling in closer until she was pressed into Miranda's side to slip something into the raven-haired beauty's hand before she moved away, pretending to play with the cuffs of her suit.

Miranda didn't bother opening it yet, she could pretty much tell it was a VI recorded messenger that had most likely been encrypted several times over and would be a complete pain in the arse for her.

"Ignoring the fact that you just pressed a VI recorded messenger in my hands," Miranda started with a drawl that made herself shudder at how strange it sounded coming from out of her mouth. "What _are_you doing here? I haven't heard news of you from the intel I've been using."

Kasumi sipped smugly at her cherry lambrini, a free hand coming up to pat at the side of her nose. "Maybe you should get better intel Ms Lawson because I've been here for a while, on the run actually."

The old Cerberus operative didn't even have to force her snort of indignation this time, curling a leg over the other and clicking her tongue in annoyance. "What, you too? I know you're normally on the run but whom by? Cerberus?"

The thief nodded in confirmation, propping her feet up on the nearest ledge that held up the table and granting Miranda another smile that Miranda returned with an icy scowl; now was not the time to get distracted by Kasumi Goto.

At the confirmation that Cerberus was also after Kasumi, Miranda turned away with a sigh to rub at her forehead once more in a wild attempt to try and make some sense of the whole situation and why she and Kasumi had been specifically targeted by Cerberus instead of the other squadmates that had been with Shepard at the time of the Collectors.

Okay so she knew why she was being targeted even if she hadn't been sharing Shepard's bed at the time, but the Illusive Man had no reason to believe Kasumi was nothing more but a mere squaddie doing her job and not really caring what happened to Shepard even with the galaxy near the brink of chaos – so how had such information leak?

"Either way I'm just here to enjoy the rest of my splendours with a nice drink with an equally nice old colleague of…"

Miranda snapped her head up to give the thief a look that could only be described as suspicious. "Tell me the real reason why you're here Kasumi."

Kasumi opened her mouth to say something before she shut it again with two fingers pinching at the side of her lips, gesturing to the increasingly frustrated Miranda that she wouldn't say anything on the matter; which in a way was a damn shame, because Miranda was going to get an answer whether the thief liked it or not.

Ignoring the thief for the moment Miranda instead turned her attention on the VI messenger in her hands, placing it on the table and flipping it open to reveal a holographic image of none other than Commander Shepard who…

"What the hell did she do to her hair? It's _tame_." Miranda found herself commenting with a sarcastic tone before she could stop herself, withdrawing further into her seat at Kasumi's snorting being the only reaction she got.

"I assume…" Kasumi started with a wave of her hand that went through the green holographic image of Shepard, distorting the image at the intrusion, "it had something to do with being back with the Alliance again, that or maybe Shep's trying to give herself a more…classical edge."

Miranda withheld a dry laugh at the thought of Shepard being classy and pressed the activation button, resting her chin in the palm of her hand as she leaned forward to stare deeper into the '_eyes_' that the VI presented of Commander Song Shepard.

"Miranda this is Shepard, I won't go into too many details but let's just say this: I need you to be safe and the only way for me to at least sleep at night would be if someone I trusted with my own life to look after yours whilst I'm in the Alliance HQ," mini Shepard voiced, her tone taking on a dangerous edge that made Miranda shiver in a desire that had long since repressed. "Don't even try and tell me you don't need any help either, because I know you Miss Miranda Lawson and I know that even if you were just a head, a simple, little head then you still wouldn't ask for help with anything. So for once just listen."

Miranda clicked her tongue in frustration; there went the thinking that Shepard's flaw of being easily distracted was long gone – in fact if anything, it had just gotten worse and the string of almost inaudible chuckling from Kasumi next to her did nothing but cause Miranda's irritation to intensify.

The mini holographic image of Shepard crossed its arms with a sigh, a reaction Miranda could relate to in these dark times with Cerberus and everything else in the galaxy after her hide, however it didn't become less unnerving to see Shepard react in such a way; it was actually sort of terrifying once Miranda thought about it.

"From recent intel Kasumi managed to sneak into the Alliance HQ for me I've found out what happened to your tech experts…"

Miranda didn't hesitate once. She crushed the VI with her biotics with one curl of her fingers, leaving it on the table to smoke and for the machinery to splutter until it whirred so loudly and quickly that it finally died out with a little '_poof_' noise.

Next to her Kasumi gasped and for a while Miranda didn't understand where the sharp pain in her arm had come from until she turned to see that Kasumi's knuckles still rested on her arm; apparently the thief had thought punching her arm would get her point across.

Miranda couldn't find it in herself to force the calm façade on herself so she let the anger, irritation and sadness swallow her whole until her fisted hands were shaking underneath the table she and Kasumi sat at.

"How in god's name did you two know?" Miranda whispered with a deadly glint in her eye, not allowing herself to remain guilty (or hopeful) that Shepard would mention something about them and now she had just crushed the only device that could answer her question. "How did you know that my tech experts were missing? That I _had_tech experts was supposed to be a well-kept secret!"

The notorious thief had the decency to look apologetic but still didn't remove her hand from Miranda's arm, instead she gripped it and pulled Miranda in closer so that what felt like hair _(Kasumi's hair, it was that long?) _brushed against the lobe of the old Cerberus operative's ear.

"Could we at least explain this somewhere where there isn't about five Cerberus officers trying to kill us both?" Kasumi whispered with an impish lilt to her voice, causing Miranda to look over her shoulder and shudder to try and shake the feelings off.

There were more Cerberus officers in here? Even after all this time of Miranda slipping and sliding away from them and they still seemed to find a way to get at her? This was becoming borderline ridiculous.

She nodded once and stood up whilst pressing the VI messenger into one of her many inside pockets of her casual clothing – too risky to leave it here, some people would eventually recover it and analyse it and they would all be in trouble.

"I can't even have a drink without trouble finding me," Miranda murmured to herself with a somewhat satisfied smile, a thing that had not come to her face for months until now. "I think it's one of the burdens of knowing both the Illusive Man and Shepard."

Kasumi didn't answer her vocally but with a sharp gesture of her head, signalling for Miranda to follow her outside of Purgatory and into the nearest elevator that the thief collapsed against when the doors finally closed.

"Shepard sent me to you," Kasumi started out of nowhere with a pant of exertion, her back facing away from Miranda's all-knowing azure hues. "I made her a promise once that I'd always be there if she needed me and when she said she needed me to do something for you, well, it was a _little_difficult to say no."

Miranda didn't attempt to understand the reasoning behind Shepard and Kasumi, not because she didn't want to exactly but because even when Shepard and Kasumi had been on the Normandy with her to fight the Collector's their relationship was still not completely friendship however at the same time that was what it contained. It was too complicated to explain and just too complicated to comprehend.

Everyone had that one thing they ignored, the one thing they could always see in the corner of their eye but choose to ignore it anyhow: with Miranda it was Shepard and Kasumi and the way they saw one another – a puzzle if she ever saw one as jarring and jagged as this one.

Shepard was also one of the most egoistic people she had ever met when it came to the people around her, she was ultimately selfish in thinking that Miranda needed someone's help (especially someone like Kasumi, _for crying out loud_) and so she would receive it and damn the consequences.

_Tch_, that was Shepard all over, ultimately selfish but also ultimately human.

Miranda crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the back wall of the elevator, letting out an exasperated grunt that caused Kasumi's head to jolt upwards to stare at her.

"So you thought it would be…What? Nice of you to look after me?" Miranda grumbled with her face pulling downwards into a frown. "You can tell Shepard thanks but no thanks, I'm fine on my own and I most certainly don't need your help."

Kasumi made a noncommittal noise at the very back of her throat, her hands curled into fists. "Why are you always so stupidly stubborn? You need a tech expert and I AM a tech expert!"

Miranda sighed in vexation, looking upwards to stare angrily at the elevator ceiling with her lower lip trapped in between her teeth to prevent herself from saying she most likely would regret if Shepard found out she had (as the blonde Commander always said) been 'gobbing off'. Typically British, typically Shepard.

So Miranda moved onto another tactic, something that she was good at doing when things didn't end up her way. "That still doesn't explain to me how you or Shepard knew that my tech experts were missing, so cut to the chase and give me some answers here."

It took a while (along with Kasumi murmuring soft complaints that Miranda had little to no patience for) but soon enough the thief finally turned around to stare directly into Miranda's eyes with her lips curled downwards into a sceptical frown.

"Before I tell you," Kasumi started with her fingers picking at the red fabric of her suit in an attempt to keep herself distracted, "you need to promise that you won't kick my ass to next week."

Miranda's jaw tightened in aggravation, "Kasumi…"

"I may have accidently been stealing your tech for about…_two months_or so." Kasumi admitted with a sheepish grin, rubbing at the top of her head nervously whilst backing herself into the nearest corner the elevator provided. "It was some nice tech too, did you know they had those Quantum M64-Lite regenerators? They did some crazy things to my cloaking device! So hey, you can't say they didn't go to good use!"

Miranda took time to process the information and her feelings at being told that technical equipment (her technical equipment!) she had kept hidden for so long had actually been dying down in quantity without herself or the tech experts she had previously worked with noticing a damn thing!

And Kasumi! Kasumi had been the one stealing such precious, expensive tech that Miranda had worked her arse off to obtain from companies, mercenary bands and the rest of the galaxy that had been clever (or foolish) enough to help her get such equipment without alerting higher authorities like Cerberus. And now it was gone!

She didn't even know what to feel angry at; the fact that not only were her tech experts dead but they hadn't noticed valuable equipment was missing or the fact that Kasumi had been the one stealing that valuable equipment in the first place.

At that point Miranda decided she would rage quietly about the inexperience of her tech experts when she was alone, right now she was going to try and form a way to strangle Kasumi Goto with words alone.

"So not only did you steal my tech right under my expert's noses…" Miranda whispered with a deadly glint in her eye, hand coming upwards to cup the curve of her chin and for her fingers to dig into the bone to control her wrath. "But you deliberately used my tech knowing that it belonged to me in the first place! How the hell does your mind work Goto?"

"To be fair I honestly didn't know it belonged to you until I hacked into one of your experts omni-tool and discovered they were sending most of the stuff to you!" Kasumi protested with her hands placed in the air as though she was surrendering to Miranda's hard stare. "Besides you owe me! If I hadn't of deleted most of the records on you then I bet Cerberus would be crawling all over…Did you hear that?"

Miranda wished she hadn't heard the almost silent thump from overhead, but she had and right now she was on edge by the mere sound of it and why the hell did this elevator not go any _faster?  
><em>  
>"Yeah I did," Miranda confirmed with a whisper and a nod of her head, moving forward to press herself and the thief into the doors of the elevator with her eyes glued to the ceiling. "And if I know the Illusive Man then…"<p>

Kasumi sent her a wide-eyed look underneath her hood, nudging the open doors button with her elbows at the fastest pace imaginable whilst her mouth worked freely as it always did when she was put in crazy situations like this one.

"So not to sound like I'm giving the enemy ideas," Kasumi said with her elbow still jamming at the button whilst her eyes remained focused solely on the elevator ceiling. "But this is the Citadel for cryin' out loud; they wouldn't try and assassinate you here would they?"

Miranda threw a sideways glance in the master thief's direction, "what do _you_think Goto?"

The sound of thudding on the thin bars of the ventilation shaft brought them both back to reality and when the elevator door finally opened they both shot off in a flash to speed down the corridors of the ward, Miranda speeding towards her apartment whilst Kasumi dragged behind with hesitation on where to go.

Miranda almost ordered the thief to stop following her by the time she was just around the corner from her apartment however she realized that maybe having Kasumi with her was actually a benefit for this very moment, at least this way she wouldn't easily be surprised or overwhelmed by Cerberus forces if they had decided to infiltrate into her home.

"This way!" Miranda ordered with her arm coming upwards to grip at Kasumi's wrist, pulling her forward into the alcove that led them to the very back of Miranda's apartment.

Soon enough they both ended up at the door Miranda had been running towards, the old Cerberus operative stepping forward to press the pad of her thumb on the scanner's screen with a tight knot in her jaw forming as she took in the still empty room that looked exactly like it had before she had left for Purgatory – which of course didn't mean anything once you looked at things in a different perspective.

Miranda peered in the room for a moment before she took a huge leap of faith and practically ran inside with her feet taking her towards the direction of the storage cabinet where she kept most of her pistols and SMGs; once there she opened the cabinet and slipped the Shruiken and the Locust in their respected sheaths around her waist with her hands moving upwards to flick a switch that was on the very top corner of the inside of her cabinet.

_'Try and find me now,'_Miranda thought with a smug smile, proud of her own device that would place her on an entirely different route than she was actually on just in case any Cerberus operative or soldiers came in looking for her.

Now that was done she would have to go about acquiring most of her data from her terminal and transfer it to her omni-tool which wouldn't take that long and…

"What the hell are you doing with that?" Miranda seethed with her eyes wide at the sight of Kasumi Goto messing around with one of Miranda's more valuable technical devices that her tech experts had been sending her. "Don't you know that cost me more than 250000 credits for that? Put the damn thing down!"

"But it flashes different colours!" Kasumi said as she whirled the rubber device around her finger once, presenting it to Miranda with a childish giggle.

"Of course you'd find that interesting," Miranda said with a sigh, reaching over to snatch the object from Kasumi's hands and scouring all over her room for the bag she had come in with when she had first started using this apartment as her head of operations. "If you want to do something useful then get all that data from my terminal and transfer it to your omni-tool, I'm going to need it."

Kasumi looked surprised at the sudden change of heart but knew best not to ask many questions when it seemed pretty damn obvious that what was happening right now was a bid to escape from Cerberus and to do so that meant that both herself and Miranda would have to be hitching a ride to some other place where Cerberus would lose track of them for a while.

"Does that mean I do get to follow you around for a bit?" Kasumi couldn't help but ask despite her own nattering voice telling herself not to do such a thing. "Because if so then you really need to make up your mind, I'm getting mixed signals here!"

Looking up from sorting out some of her old dossiers out Miranda rolled her eyes and allowed her mouth to move in that vicious way she saved for times like this where her life was on the line if they didn't stop stalling soon, "what is happening is that we'll both get a ship off to the Citadel, you'll transfer the data from your omni-tool to my own and then I'm dropping you back off on Earth."

"What for?" Kasumi demanded with her lower lip pouted out sulkily, "you know Shepard told me to look after…"

Miranda stood up then with her azure eyes hardened into an icy glare, the gaze alone shaking Kasumi to the core until she felt her own arm curl around her waist in a hug that did not supply enough warmth to battle against Miranda Lawson's expression.

"I'm not arguing any longer about this Kasumi, are you done with that data or not?"

Kasumi wanted to argue, to tell the old Cerberus operative that she couldn't talk to her that way but she had promised Shepard to be as civil as she possibly could and well there _was_still some patience in her yet.

So instead she nodded and deleted the rest of the data off the terminal with a flick of her wrist, offering Miranda a hand (_which Miranda refused_) to help her up from her kneeling position on the floor.

"Let's go before Cerberus decides to skin me and send it back to my mother," Kasumi murmured with a playful smile creeping across her face at the horrified look Miranda sent her way, "oh don't worry, it's a Japanese thing."

"Right… Let's go."

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><p><em>I hope you enjoyed the first chapter faithful and new reviewers :3 This will take place before and in between the events of Mass Effect 3 so yes, it'll contain some spoilers so be careful if you haven't already played the game (why AREN'T you playing the game?) and know that you're reading this at your own risk. ;)<em>


	2. A New Path

**A New Path  
><strong>_If there is one thing Kasumi Goto knows, it's that making progress with Miranda Lawson is not easy._

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><p><strong>"T<strong>his is Miranda Lawson requesting for Captain David Lloyd Travis, captain of the SUV Hawke," Miranda spoke into a headset she had wired to the lobe of her ear with Kasumi's help, glancing over from where they were at the docking bays of the Citadel to scan her surroundings to see if anyone was listening into her conversation. "I repeat this is Miranda Lawson requesting for Captain David Lloyd Travis, captain of the SUV Hawke, please come in."

A soft whirring sound answered her and with a frustrated sigh Miranda hit the headset with a growl, unable to believe that she had waited so long in one place and that now she was running she couldn't get to the Captain that had promised he would wait for her if she ever needed a ride.

And sure he had looked her up more than once (a memory that almost made Miranda seethe in vicious anger) and was practically a slime-ball but he was also the best damn Captain who also piloted the ship; an asset she would need in case Cerberus tried to chase her down using their own vessels.

She would wait a few more minutes before trying again otherwise her call might get lost in the never-ending feed that constantly travelled through communications and she really doubted she would want her order to go into the earpiece of a Cerberus officer, at best it would be embarrassing and at worst it would be a deadly hiccup.

Once again taking in her surroundings Miranda chose the best option available by sitting on a bench next to the oddly quiet Kasumi (not that she was complaining about that fact) with her back to the wall so she could see up and down the docking bay's corridors; a strategic position that had been adapted into the military life since the cowboys had been around – never sit with your back to a door, it usually ended up with your head being blown off.

A yawn escaped from her, surprising her at how quick it had come and gone in a matter of seconds and how that one yawn reminded her body how tired it was; shocking it into a restlessness that had the old Cerberus operative gripping onto the bench's arm for support.

Kasumi answered Miranda's yawn with one of her own, stifling it with her hand and leaning back into the hard wood of the bench with her arms lifting upwards into a stretch that curled her abdomen upwards as though she was a cat lounging silkily on its throne known as its bed.

The brunette raised an amused brow at the sight, shaking her head and turning away from the master thief to stare directly in front of her with her hands grasping at the skin under her jaw; a habit that Miranda did when she was anxious despite her futile attempts to calm herself.

If she was being honest with herself then Miranda knew she had little to no other places to go now that her safe house on the Citadel had been discovered, sure there were other safe houses but all five of them were not as hidden as she would like them to be and all five of them were on a planet where Cerberus was active.

It left her with no other choice. She would have to go find Oriana and her family and try and require a sleeping allotment there for the night, then she and Kasumi would go their separate ways and maybe Miranda would have somewhere else to hide without alerting Cerberus troops on where she was.

It was all maybe's and ifs, nothing definite that could help her and that thought alone made Miranda feel even heavier despite the knowledge that her own ribs were becoming more and more noticeable to see each and every day – it was something she would worry about later when she had the time.

Right now she didn't and she probably would not have the time to sit down (_to sit down really and fully_) until she could safely say the Reapers were gone and Cerberus defeated, and so what if the time would more likely swallow her whole than actually give her time to fix things? Miranda couldn't (wouldn't) lie down and rest until she knew it was right to do so and right now it definitely wasn't the right time.

With another sigh Miranda got up from where she was sitting and began to pace up and down the corridor of docking bay D24 with her hands intertwined behind her back, an image Miranda would normally have scoffed at because who would think that she, Miranda Lawson, would become this fragile that she was nearly tipping over the edge with no other support but herself?

A noise from her right brought Miranda's attention back onto the thief that was now whistling to herself, head tipped back and her eyes closed in what Miranda assumed was the most relaxed position she had ever seen the thief; the sight was both refreshing and frustrating in a way that Miranda felt envious that Kasumi could act as though nothing was bothering her.

That annoyance fuelled her next words: _"Stop _whistling, I'm trying to think."

Kasumi frowned and shook her head, rearranging herself on the bench and crossing her arms across her chest to resume her whistling with her head bobbing to the sound; said sound causing Miranda to twitch as another wave of irritation washed over her.

"I can whistle whenever I want, besides you're pacing like crazy and it's making me nervous; calm down alright? We'll find someone to take us to Earth sooner or later," Kasumi told her the moment Miranda was about to open her mouth and argue some more, "so just sit back down and enjoy the lovely scenery of ships going to and from the docks."

Miranda restrained herself from letting out a rather undignified snort and (just to show that she didn't care one bit on what Kasumi thought) remained standing near an advertisement terminal, leaning against the stand with her eyes fixed on the retreating ships that were pulling away from the Citadel's docks – it was a silly little pleasure to have, looking at the scenery, but at least it stopped the banging in Miranda's head and for that she was forever grateful.

Just when the feeling of helplessness started to creep into Miranda's veins, the voice of Travis piped up into her ear to shock her for a moment until her back was almost ram-rod straight; it at least gave her the advantage of leaving Kasumi's presence for a while and she did so with a happy smile plastered itself over her face.

It wasn't that Kasumi herself bothered her, no it was the way the master thief reacted and behaved that made Miranda feel jealous and irritable; emotions she still hadn't gotten used to when it came to the Japanese woman.

"You took your time," Miranda growled into the headset, looking over her shoulder to see that Kasumi had finally opened her eyes to watch her back with a fascination that could only mean the thief had noticed something rather interesting and would be sharing with her later – _lovely_. "And no I don't care what you've been up to; I need you here at docking bay D24 so me and my friend can board for you to take us to Earth."

_"Well aren't you sweet Lawson? Demanding I take you to Earth when you damn well know I'm a wanted man there, you know how much that's going to cost you?"_ Travis's voiced echoed through her headset, making Miranda cringe at his British accent that had somehow managed to transform into an almost drunken slur. "_Believe me, it ain't gonna come cheap if my ass gets back into prison just for you."  
><em>_  
><em>Miranda didn't hold back her snort this time and eyed the wing of the SUV Hawke with her left brow arched in disinterest at the shoddy little thing Travis called a ship, though she knew she couldn't complain considering how many times it had gotten her out of scraps that would have otherwise left her for dead.

"Prison will be the least of your worries if you don't get your arse into gear now," Miranda warned in a low tone, teeth bared threateningly despite Travis not being able to see it. "If you aren't here in ten minutes then C-Sec will know every little detail there is to know about David Lloyd Travis and believe me, it won't be pretty."

A half-hearted curse answered her and with a smile Miranda looked over her shoulder in shock to see that the hangar to the SUV Hawke was now opening wide enough to grant herself and Kasumi entry, a welcoming sight and something she wouldn't dare waste.

"Kasumi, let's go!" She called over her shoulder, already speed-walking towards the entrance with her first genuine smirk sketched onto her face.

This time everything would go according to plan.

* * *

><p><strong>K<strong>asumi Goto really wouldn't call herself a stalker of such, hell even the long sessions of staring at Jacob Taylor's workouts weren't that _stalkerish_ (at least she didn't put a trace on him or anything like she had with Shepard) but for some reason she seemed to be finding ways of following Miranda's every move until the brunette woman had stood still, sighed and had locked her out of her cabin.

It was honestly just plain rude because that was her cabin as well that they were supposed to share, and the creepy captain slash pilot wouldn't stop staring at her either so now she was stuck in between a rock and a hard place.

It just wasn't fair, she knew it wouldn't be easy trying to convince Miranda to take her on but _c'mon_, it wasn't as though she was unbearable.

Kasumi looked over her shoulder once to see that the main crew of the SUV Hawke were too busy piloting and doing their own thing to actually give a two shits on what she was doing, so without further ado Kasumi cloaked herself and started fiddling with her omni-tool in an attempt to hack hers and Miranda's cabin door.

The thing was that Kasumi generally like Miranda a lot more than the old Cerberus operative realised; because sure she was horrible company most of the times but she was also a vivid and strong woman, fascinatingly so, and it was that vividness and strength that made Kasumi feel that much more lighter in Miranda's presence.

It was a strange, horrible sensation that the thief hadn't gotten used to with not seeing Miranda for so long but she knew that either way she would sooner or later become used to it.

Kasumi had been looking for Miranda for a while however, almost as long as two months what with her regular visits to Shepard (_supervised of course with her various ID's and DNA that she had been clever enough to alter for a split second as the Alliance's scans washed over her skin_) who had practically ordered her to keep an eye on Miranda considering the blonde commander couldn't and the fact that they hadn't left on the best of terms – a thing Kasumi was reluctant to ask about in the first place.

And if Kasumi really wanted to admit it to herself, just a little bit…She would admit that she had actually missed Miranda a lot more than she herself would have thought.

So when the cabin door finally clicked open and Kasumi slid in with a bright, exuberant grin on her face it didn't make any sense not to practically skip up behind the working Miranda, de-cloak and prepare to scare the living…

The thief stopped at the realisation that Miranda was watching her from the reflection in her terminal, the raven-haired woman's face pulled into a scowl of frustration and her lower lip was trapped in between her teeth in a way Kasumi would have described as painful if she hadn't of known better.

Kasumi chose to ignore the look, instead looking at the information Miranda was leafing through and using her rather spectacular expertise to point out a glaring mistake in one of the shipping manifests.

"You see that radioactive emulsifier there?" Kasumi started the tip of her finger prodding against the list on the terminal screen, "it shouldn't be listed with the other emulsifiers because then…"

"…It would make the other emulsifiers irrelevant as a radioactive emulsifier isn't quite the same thing," Miranda finished for her, turning around in her chair to face Kasumi with another hard look on her face, "I know what I'm doing Kasumi."

Kasumi shrugged and slapped at her thighs with a helpless smile, not truly knowing what to do now that she was here apart from pull up a chair – which she did – and sit next to Miranda at the desk with her feet up on the very edge as though to not disturb the stacks of paperwork that rested there.

"So what are you actually doing with this little organization of yours?" Kasumi started with another little yawn escaping her, snuggling further down into the comfort of her chair, "from what me and Shep have heard it sounds like you're giving the Illusive Man a hard time."

It was a flicker of a moment but the smug smile that appeared on Miranda's face immediately made Kasumi feel as though she had won some sort of inane victory.

"Oh I wouldn't say it was a complete hard time for him," Miranda said coolly with her usual detached expression on her face, attempting to not sound or look pleased and failing terribly. "On the contrary he said he enjoyed working with me very much, but the situation had to be contained."

Kasumi winced at the implication, "sounds very final if you ask me."

The old Cerberus operative rolled her eyes and shut off her terminal with a hefty sigh, turning around in her chair so she faced the thief fully.

"Well if it makes you feel any better he did send three assassins after me the moment I walked out the door," Miranda informed the Japanese thief with an aloof smile, rubbing at the skin underneath her eyes in an attempt to jolt herself awake, "unfortunate for them, they didn't realize I was leaving kinetic grenades with each step I took – at least they died quickly."

Kasumi refused to let the shock show on her face and instead settled on arching her brow at the old Cerberus operative and linking up her omni-tool to Miranda's own in a matter of seconds, transferring the data she had taken from Miranda's terminal back on the Citadel into Miranda's omni-tool.

It mostly contained information of shipping manifests, organizations and names that were crossed out; almost as though they had either been eradicated or Miranda had finished her dealings with them in the business world.

She had never really been into the whole business world Kasumi had to admit, no she was more of that vigilante thief who stole from companies and organizations and gave to the poor, less fortunate souls like herself who needed such tech much more than the organizations and companies like Miranda was running; even if Kasumi had non-explicitly invited herself into said organization that Miranda was currently in charge of.

"Do you have a cool name? Like y'know the Black Panthers? Or the Raving Rabbits?" Kasumi asked with a mock innocence to her tone, using the heel of her foot to spin around on her chair. "Personally my favourite has to be the Hipping Hipsters!"

The brunette woman in front of her decided it was in her best interest not to indulge Kasumi in her silly ravings, in its place Miranda got up from her chair, picked up the stack of paperwork and took it with her to the very middle of her bed so that she could spread it out over the thin grey linen Travis had provided.

"Are you serious?" Miranda heard the thief whisper in disbelief from over her shoulder as she got to work on filling in the paperwork of ship engines and other various things that required her attention.

"Haven't you heard of sleeping anymore Miranda?" The thief once more whispered and this time it was frustrating enough that Miranda finally looked over shoulder with a roll of her eyes to see that Kasumi was talking to her with her head upside down on the edge of the chair. "It's that thing that's needed if you sort of don't want to collapse every now and then from exhaustion, you should _really_try it sometimes."

Miranda didn't know if she should answer or not, part of her wanted to just give in and confess everything – like why she couldn't actually sleep at night, why such insecurities that she had been so sure she had locked away was one of the reasons why she wouldn't allow her eyes to close – however another stronger (more stubborn) part of her disagreed vehemently and so she remained silent with her lips pressed into a thin line.

And then before Miranda could protest the thief had practically swept up every single piece of paperwork into her arms and placed it back on the desk herself and Miranda had been sitting at previously, rushing back over to Miranda's side with smug smile on her face that practically screamed victory.

Miranda wasn't amused in the slightest, "are you an idiot? I don't have time to sleep when I have things like assassination orders to fill in, kinetic barriers to approve of and basically everything that will help me build up my own forces before the Reapers and Cerberus come knocking on my damn door."

If possible Kasumi's smile just grew even larger than before as she sat down on the edge of Miranda's bed, kicking off her shoes to reveal neon green socks that she curled in towards her abdomen as she leaned backwards so that her head was just mere centimetres from Miranda's own face.

"Don't you mean _our_door Ms Lawson?" The master thief teased with a click of her tongue, laughing joyfully when the old Cerberus operative actually showed an inkling of action by slapping her face with a pillow, "c'mon, stop acting like me working with you is the worst thing in the world; with me you might actually find some new intel out."

"Such as?" Miranda challenged through gritted teeth, obviously annoyed that Kasumi had actually taken away something that would have kept her mind working and was now taking her irritation out on the thief by acting as stubborn as she possibly could.

Kasumi opened her mouth to speak, but truth be told she didn't really have any intel to look up right at the moment without the usage of a terminal – and she knew Miranda would never allow her to touch hers in a million years – so with that she managed to shut herself up and moved onto a different subject entirely.

"Do you remember…" She started with her head cocking to the side a little so Kasumi could just about catch the sight of Miranda's startling azure hues, "when I stole one of your PDA's and left it in engineering?"

If it was possible then Kasumi would have sworn Miranda had smiled, but that was impossible because Miranda was the ice queen of the whole damn galaxy (or so the old Cerberus operative wanted everyone to believe) and smiling was not on the ice queen's to-do list.

"Leaving my PDA in engineering was nothing short of cruel," Miranda replied and this time Kasumi was 100% sure the brunette woman was smiling; hell you could tell she was by the sound of her voice. "Jack kept hissing up at me from below the deck, I'm sure she found it amusing but honestly it was just _childish_."

"I heard you screamed a little…"

"You heard wrong." Miranda replied sharply, cutting the conversation with such ferocity it almost sounded as though someone had retracted a whip before letting it whirl back to its original mark.

Kasumi stared up at her with her lower lip trapped in between her teeth, an innocent look Miranda didn't take in and instead moved away from by getting off the bed that Kasumi had unintentionally claimed as her own and getting into the other cot that rested on the floor next to the bed.

The thief was having none of it: "Hey get out of that thing will you? You need a more comfortable sleep than I do so you can have the bed whilst I have the cot, it'll be an adventure!"

The older woman snorted at the choice of words but overall ignored the words Kasumi had thrown her way and tucked herself deeper into the cot, rolling onto her side so that all the thief could see was Miranda's back.

"Bright ray of sunshine you are…" Kasumi mumbled with a puff of annoyance, slipping out of the bed so that she landed next to Miranda's silent form. "Well fine, but if you're sleeping on the floor then so am I! Then we'll BOTH have cramps, hurrah!"

The tired thief let out a yawn and settled onto her back with her eyes scanning the ceiling and the intricate patterns that were splattered across said ceiling, soon she started to count each circle or triangle until it became too much effort and closed her eyes instead with her mind focused solely on the counting of little varren over a gate.

It didn't take long but soon enough Kasumi detected movement coming from near her and with the reaction speed of a jungle cat (_and she had no idea where she had got that metaphor from_) the thief sprang on Miranda's now standing-up form by latching onto her ankle and pulling at her leg.

"What are you? Half robot?" Kasumi protested with another tug at Miranda's leg, pouting a little at how it didn't seem to be affecting Miranda's movements in the least.

All it took was one leg shake and soon enough Miranda was back at the desk with her head buried in paperwork, ignoring Kasumi's protests like the boss she was at doing that sort of thing – ignoring everything that disagreed with her.

Rolling onto her stomach the thief arched a brow at Miranda's back, curious on what on earth could be motivating enough that miss Miranda Lawson couldn't seem to pull herself away from work; because she had been like this against the Collectors but now it seemed that not even the Reapers themselves could pull Miranda away from her work this time.

"Could you at least explain to me where we are going?" Kasumi asked with another sigh, wriggling towards the cot Miranda had escaped from to snuggle herself into the comfortable fabric with a contented sigh, "are we going to find Shep? Because believe me it was a pain in the ass trying to sneak into Alliance HQ undetected…"

"No we aren't going to get Shepard," Miranda interrupted coldly, turning her head slightly to glance at the thief with a hard look in her azure hues. "We're going to London to a safe house there, and to see if my sister Oriana is safe."

Kasumi couldn't keep the throaty growl from escaping her and so placed her chin in the palm of her hand, narrowing her hazelnut eyes and cocking her head to the side as she attempted to remember who the hell Oriana was.

"My _sister_." Miranda clarified with a shake of her head, "my twin sister, the one we rescued from Illium eight months ago?"

It was almost as if an imaginary light bulb flashed in Kasumi's head at the mention of Miranda's twin sister and with an audible gasp the thief rested her head back onto the soft fabric of the cot she lay in, gazing up at the ceiling with her brow furrowed in thought.

"I thought Oriana had got moved to the Citadel? That's what Shepard told me…"

"Shepard told you that?" Miranda interjected with her head moving sharply in Kasumi's direction. "Why is it that she can never keep her damn mouth shut for once? You had no right to be told that."

"Hey it's not like I'm going to tell anyone! You can trust me as well!" Kasumi found herself answering with a crass tone to her voice, not willing to accept that Miranda was only acting this way because she was worried for Oriana's safety; there had to be something else to it for the former Cerberus operative to be acting this way. "So what's the big deal? Did something happen?"

A moment of silence occurred, something that Kasumi never had and never would get used to.

"I haven't had much contact with her," Miranda finally admitted with a sigh of defeat, pushing away from her desk with her hand coming up to swipe tiredly at her face, "it's why I'm hoping she'll be fine once we hit London; otherwise I don't know how I'll forgive myself if I find out something bad has happened to her."

Kasumi wasn't very good at comforting people like Miranda to be honest, she never knew if she was actually helping them in any way or just being an annoyance; so to say she had no idea what to tell the former Cerberus operative was a fierce understatement – not only did she not know what to say but she also did not know what to even do apart from watch the cold expression stained on Miranda Lawson's face.

But then her lips and tongue were moving and everything seemed to flow so easily from inside her very being that Kasumi could feel herself grow light-headed as she continued to speak, to reassure.

"She'll be fine Miranda, with you as a sister it probably means she's used to wearing a pistol strapped to her thigh wherever she goes," Kasumi tried to reassure the brunette woman with what she hoped was an encouraging laugh, although knowing Miranda it would most likely be the opposite effect and it would earn the thief a punch in the mouth.

When she received neither a scathing remark or a hard look from the former operative Kasumi rolled onto her front with her head cocked to the side, watching the protruding spine of Miranda with concern at how thin the operative seemed to have gotten since the thief had last seen her.

"Are you going to go to sleep now?" Kasumi found herself whispering without really knowing why she was doing so in the first place – it just seemed right she supposed.  
>Miranda shook her head.<p>

Kasumi sighed, "You need sleep and a decent meal. Why don't you ask Travis to see if he has any decent food around?"

The operative waved her off and sat back down at the edge of the bed provided, looking as though the devil itself had just left from her body and was she now lingering on the edge of sleep and the need to work just that little bit more; it was a beautifully horrific sight.

Kasumi met her Miranda's eyes once more with such steely determination that for a split second the brunette woman actually looked worried; and well in Kasumi's opinion she had every right to look worried because this could _not_ go on any longer and so she _wouldn't _allow it to go on any longer.

"You know what?" Kasumi whispered with a shake of her head, unable to believe that what she was experiencing right now was that a strong (unbelievably strong) woman wouldn't allow herself a rest when that was the one thing she needed the most, "did you know Shepard stopped eating for a whole week once she was first incarcerated?"

From the way Miranda stiffened it seemed clear she hadn't known, another reason why Kasumi couldn't forgive herself for not contacting Miranda sooner about Shepard's concerns and health; not having the time was not a good enough reason and it shamed Kasumi greatly that it had been one of the very first excuses to sprout from her lips.

"Yeah that's right she didn't eat for ages," Kasumi continued in dismay, shaking her head and clawing her way out her cot to shakily pull herself up using Miranda's knee for balance, "but you know what? She knew that she had to rest sooner or later, she couldn't just sit around and mope…"

"Mope!" Miranda snarled with her face screwed up in animosity at that one word that had managed to leave Kasumi's mouth without much thought, "I'll have you damn well know that what I'm doing is…"

"…or work herself to death," the master thief continued with a little amused quirk of her lips that Miranda only just missed by how Kasumi seemed to dance out of reach with her shoulder being supported by the door frame of their room, "she slept for about two weeks straight, hell of a time so I've heard but that's not the point."

Kasumi spared a smile towards the other woman over her shoulder. "The point is you need some sleep Miss Miranda Lawson and some good food in your belly, so when I get back from getting you some food I expect you to be in your PJs and for you to be ready to receive your food, capiche?"

Surprisingly (and by surprisingly Kasumi actually meant that she probably would have fallen over in shock if she hadn't been leaning against a door frame) the brunette woman didn't put up much resistance this time and got up from where she had been sitting on the bed to waltz over to where Kasumi stood, looking as intimidating as ever even if she looked as though she could hardly stand on her two feet.

"I'd sit down maybe?" Kasumi suggested with another smile that quickly shot off her face in a flash when Miranda Lawson was merely a foot away from her, icy blue eyes narrowed dangerously and the way she was breathing? It could be described as a predator's breath on the prey's neck. "Or you could stand up, that's fine with me too."

Miranda pointed a finger in her direction, a dark look crossing her face. "I'm going to sleep now, but I swear to god Goto if you even attempt to order me around again then I'll…"  
>"Yes, yes that's great," Kasumi whispered with a teasing grin, jabbing at the door to open it and hastily patting at Miranda's shoulders in an attempt to ease the tension a little. "Now what's really important here is what you'd like; so, ramen or toast?"<p>

Miranda answered her by closing the door with a grunt of irritation.

Kasumi only smiled. This meant she was getting somewhere. 

* * *

><p><em>Hope you're enjoying this as much as I enjoy writing it reviewers, the process is delicate because I don't want to rush into things but I'll speed it up next chapter for you so you don't get bored.<br>I have also now head-canon'd in my head that (ME3 SPOILERS) when you speak to Miranda and Kasumi over the intercom at the end of the game they are totally with one another 8D  
>I know. I'm bad.<em>


	3. The Next Step

**The Next Step  
><strong>_The search for Oriana continues_

* * *

><p><strong>M<strong>iranda Lawson awoke with a start, eyes opened wide and her mouth slammed curved into a gasp that sent cold shudders up and down her body as image after image of her dreams crashed against her; sending her head back down into the comfortable cotton of her bed's sheets.

Oriana ran through her mind as though it was on replay, so many various situations she could see her sister in and each one haunted Miranda to the very core of her being until she felt as though sleep was not only a chore anymore, but something she wished to avoid with more passion now than ever.

They all ended the same way too, Miranda rushing and rushing to get to her sister's location in time with guns blazing in the most wicked determination to get to Oriana whilst wiping out anyone (_anyone_) who was foolish enough to get in her way; it all seemed as though it would end so well until the very end…

No, she refused to let such negative thoughts take over her mind so easily, Miranda Lawson would not allow herself to become swayed over ridiculous dreams that felt like prophecies when in truth she knew Oriana was safe because how could she _not_ be safe? Miranda had made sure with ever essence of her being that Oriana was safe from Cerberus and anything else out to get her.

Now all Miranda had to figure out was how to make her safe from the Reapers, then it would be a true job well done.

At the sound of the door opening Miranda tugged herself up from her sleeping position to rest her head against the bedpost of her bed, rubbing wearily at the sleep in the corner of her eyes whilst she waited for whoever was coming in to make their arrival known considering at this particular moment she was still half-asleep.

"Nice sleep?" Oh it was Kasumi, she had been expecting Travis to come wake her up for when they would get nearer to their arrival of London, but either way it didn't concern Miranda that much as long as Kasumi didn't do anything too stupid – not at this time anyway – with Miranda in this state.

Realizing she had been asked a question Miranda nodded glumly in response, shifting slightly so that her exposed legs hung over the edge of the bed, "it could have been a worse sleep I suppose. You?"

"_Uneventful_, no good or bad dreams apart from that one dream about Jacob's sweating, tense…" Kasumi trailed off with a teasing smile, walking in with that walk that made her hips sway side to side in a way Miranda would have found appealing on anyone else if it wasn't the master thief.

Miranda held in the urge to vomit at the implication, instead turning her attention on getting up without stumbling back down into the bed that still called to her like a sweet dose of medicine; either way she refused to go back to sleep for the next twenty-four hours as she had far too many things to go through and to do that then sleep would have to be crossed off on the agenda.

"I honestly don't want to know," she finally managed to say with a disgusted roll of her eyes, unable to believe or understand anything that was coming out of the thief's mouth right now, "either way we won't be seeing each other for very long, at the docking port in London we'll go our separate ways."

Miranda didn't have to look at Kasumi to know that it didn't settle well with the thief but what else could she do? She needed to do this alone and if Kasumi was there with her then she would do nothing but become a distraction; a distraction Miranda didn't believe was truly worth having.

"I keep telling you I'll be useful!" Miranda heard Kasumi complain before she was granted with the sight of seeing the master thief staring down at her with her hands on her hips, "just give me a chance and I'll prove it to you that I'm as useful and pretty damn awesome as those tech experts you had! Besides I can make just about anything with the right tech, I'm like a human quarian! And I can turn invisible! I bet Shepard can't turn invisible!"

Unable to stop herself Miranda actually found her lips quirking at that last part, the conclusion being that it drew a triumphant _'hah!'_from Kasumi which ended up with the Japanese woman sitting next to Miranda on the bed as another coy smile fastened its way onto her features.

Quickly wiping the smile off her face Miranda turned to face the thief, eyebrows furrowed into a scowl that did nothing but make Kasumi laugh under her breath at the look. "That is not the point, you can't even turn invisible really; it's that cloak of yours."

"Yeah and I'm also Harry Potter – that's an amazing book by the way, you should really read some classics Miranda – but technically I am invisible because I _created_that invisibility tech…"

"Regardless!" Miranda interrupted with an annoyed click of her tongue, standing up from where she had been sitting on the bed to make her way over to the little pack she had taken with her from her apartment in the Citadel, "I still say no to you tagging along with me, it's not because I don't appreciate you or anything but I need to do this alone."

"You appreciate me?" Kasumi's eyebrows arched in that spectacular fashion Miranda knew meant she was alluding to something (again) and well, it didn't take perfect genes to figure that out and silence the thief with a glare that made her shrink back into the darkness of her hood.

Miranda looked over her shoulder at the miserable-looking thief, not truly liking the fact that such an expression could make herself feel as guilty as she did now but knowing that sending Kasumi away was the right option for them both.

"That's right I appreciate you," Miranda muttered with her attention back onto the pack so that she could search for her essentials and ignore the problem of Kasumi Goto altogether, "just not enough to have you tag along. Believe me Kasumi this is for the best."

"My ass it is Lawson," Kasumi responded back with a bitter tone that made Miranda freeze in shock at how combined with Kasumi's voice and her words she sounded incredibly like Shepard if she closed her eyes and blocked everything out, "you just want me out of here because Shepard did something to piss you off and now you're taking it out on me, well nice try but I'm _staying _put."

Miranda slowly turned to look over her shoulder again, mouth turned downwards into a scowl that matched her angry, arched brow at the realisation that not only was Kasumi refusing to follow an order but she was also doing so in such a fashion that Miranda found it next to unbearable.

"Nothing you're going to say is going to make me budge either," Kasumi informed her with a triumphant smirk on her face, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning forward until their breathing mingled, "so what now once we hit London? Because I have some friends there who could help me out with the tech you might need."

Miranda smiled icily, an immediate hint to the master thief that whatever was coming she wouldn't like one bit.

"I'm going to say this one more time Goto," Miranda whispered coldly with her body twisting around slightly so they were now facing one another; hazelnut hues absorbing each and every detail of azure orbs, a conflict of colours and interests and emotions: "You aren't coming with me! We go our separate ways and we'll leave it at that, now _go_away."

Kasumi settled back onto her feet with a surprised look crossing her face at the harsh intensity of the former Cerberus operative's words because did Miranda always protect people like that? Care for them with action alone and kill them slowly with her words? For that was what she was doing, wasn't it? Kasumi was no fool.

Still if that was how Miranda wanted to play then so be it, Shepard would just have to kick her Japanese ass later if Alliance HQ ever let her out and if they did and Shepard did come to kick her ass for leaving Miranda alone then well…It would probably have been worth it anyhow.

So with a little sigh Kasumi finally allowed herself to give in, "fine then, you don't want me then I won't be there with you. Gomenasai Ms Miranda Lawson, don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

Miranda stiffened at the thief's words, looking back to see that Kasumi had already left the cabin and was making her way down the corridor to the CIC area of the SUV Hawke; the very sight bringing a stir of emotions mixed between anger, guilt and pity.

It was those emotions that told her that maybe she was losing her grip on things, for what good would it do her to have someone like Kasumi tagging along with her 24/7 causing mischief that could end up killing them both? How would that help Miranda take down Cerberus and her father?

The correct answer: it wouldn't. And right now she didn't need the distraction that Kasumi would provide her, so it only made sense that she had to leave.

Still it was ridiculous on how such a thing made her feel like she had stomped on someone's sandcastle, she needed to focus on things, things that did not revolve around Kasumi Goto or Commander Shepard so that she could actually continue with her organization without the worry eating away inside of her.

The only worry she could focus on now was Oriana and only Oriana; Shepard and Kasumi would have to wait as everything else did when it came to the protection of her little sister known as Oriana Lawson.

* * *

><p><strong>M<strong>iranda tried her hardest not to look back once the SUV Hawke had landed in the port of London, mostly due to the fact that if she did look back then she would see Kasumi and if she saw Kasumi then she would feel as though her whole stomach would be doing somersaults to ease the fresh remorse there.

"Get over yourself," she uttered moodily to herself in an attempt to force the Kasumi issue away as best as she could as now she couldn't stop thinking about the Japanese thief and that…That was terrible in its own right.

A whistle from behind her made Miranda roll her eyes and turn back to see that the Captain of the SUV Hawke Travis was smiling and waving at her, looking as arrogant and idiotic as Miranda assumed he would be about this trip to London where he was a wanted man.

"Don't forget to call and send emails Miri!" He called after her, winking slyly and making lewd sounds with his tongue that Miranda rebuffed with a cynical arch of her eyebrows, "you know how awful lonely it gets when you're just one man on a ship full of men, no female company and all…"

Miranda didn't waste time with Travis and his nonsense and immediately shut him down cold like she had been planning to do since the very start: "go play with a doll then Travis, just don't expect me to come calling to your every whim each time you click your fingers."

"Is that so? Damn shame! Give that Goto girl my regards if you see her again!" She heard him cackle before he departed back into the cockpit of the SUV Hawke, his words alone making her shudder in repulsion even as she continued down the lane of people from the docking port with her head held up high and the location of her sister already in her sights.

Miranda had made sure Oriana was stationed near a docking port for a very obvious reason; if herself or her adopted family ever got into trouble (be that legally or illegally) then they could immediately escape London or even the Sol system itself with a few quick preparations and surely that could only be a good thing.

It could also be their downfall if (_when_) the Reapers came because whilst Miranda firmly believed in luck and hope, she would always, always be a pessimist and for that reason alone she knew that when the Reapers came then Oriana would have no choice but to flee as fast as she could to dodge and evade the Reaper's insistent attacks.

Either way Miranda knew she would have to keep Oriana close from now on, or even better, she would have to try and find a colony capable of defending itself and plant her sister and the rest of her family there for safe-keeping because despite telling herself over and over that this was for Oriana's own good Miranda also knew it was to keep her own mind at rest.

It was selfish really once she thought hard enough about it, but with Oriana safe from the Reapers (for a time) Miranda could focus on Cerberus and then once that was done she would be able to assist Shepard and the rest of the Normandy crew; the real thing she should be doing instead of hiding in the shadows and smoke that she had encased herself in to hide away from Cerberus.

Speaking of Cerberus she hadn't heard from Jacob for quite a while after her departure from the Illusive Man's headquarters, they had both been on the same ship that had sent them spiralling into the Athena Nebula system but after landing on Illium her old lover had taken a new path back to Earth towards the Mediterranean where some old Cerberus safe-houses would be there that everybody had seemingly forgotten over the past years.

To be fair she hadn't heard much from anyone from the past Normandy, surprisingly the only person she had been in proper contact with was none other than Jack who she had met bunkering down in one of the apartments on Omega just before it had been taken over by Reaper and Cerberus forces; their reunion had been…Unexpectedly civil.

If being called a '_fucking tool_' could be named civil, but to be honest that was before the drinks and before the incident of them both getting so drunk they could hardly remember their own names; either way, the raging headache Miranda had woken up with as she booked a ship off Omega had been worth it in the long run.

Not that she would ever admit that to anyone (not Kasumi that was for sure and Shepard was out of the question) who she couldn't kill soon afterwards, it wasn't that she found her civility with Jack an embarrassment but what annoyed her the most was that Jack had been right all along and she had been too stubborn – _too_ _blind_– to see it until now.

If Jack found out she was on the run? Hell she'd probably bust a lung in her laughing fit because if anyone would find the concept of running away from an organization that practically raised her to be funny, then that person would be known as Jack.

Miranda was just lucky that the fact she was running in the first place hadn't slipped out of her mouth when she had last met with Jack otherwise she wouldn't have heard the last of it, which would have either left her trying to strangle the other woman with her biotics or would have left her with a raging headache – regardless, neither were good options.

It had almost hurt to let Kasumi know she was running from Cerberus, but in reality the thief had known before Miranda could even open her mouth so to say it had been difficult revealing it to Kasumi would have been nothing short of a lie; the only thing that Miranda had felt at the knowledge of Kasumi knowing what was going on was that she had wanted to strangle her for stealing her tech.

Because, you know, _priorities_.

A loud wailing noise next to her ear made Miranda jump with her pistol already in hand, pointing her weapon at the direction from where the noise had come from with her brow furrowed in frustration at realizing that not only was there nobody there but now she looked like a complete lunatic with her pistol out in a civilized area.

It wouldn't be the first time, but the last time she had done something like this it had ended up with half the people in Purgatory running away from her; their hastiness and occasional screams probably being the thing that alerted Cerberus of her presence in the first place.

And then all of a sudden she knew she was being followed and reached out with her biotics, hand clamping down on an invisible shoulder and tugging it towards her body so that her arms can wrap around the waist of none other than Kasumi Goto who sniggered immediately as the butt of Miranda's pistol connected with her thigh.

Miranda growled and shook the shoulder in the palm of her hand viciously, viciously enough that about ten seconds of her shaking the living daylights out of Ms Goto she finally de-cloaked with her hands covering her mouth to stop the barrel of giggles that was escaping from her throat.

Soon enough Miranda found herself calm enough to stop shaking the master thief, eyes narrowed angrily and her lip curled in displeasure at the realization that in reality Kasumi most likely hadn't left her side since their departure from the SUV Hawke. "How long have you been following me?"

Kasumi shrugged helplessly, obviously realizing that it didn't really matter what she said because either way Miranda wouldn't like the answer.

Realizing that not only was she drawing attention to herself but to Kasumi as well Miranda sighed with her brow knitted together in frustration, releasing Kasumi's shoulder and holstering her pistol.

"Walk," Miranda commanded with her hand coming up towards Kasumi's lower back to push the thief forward, cocking her head to the side when Kasumi's lips twitched into a frown at the intrusion. "Now tell me why you're following me around like a lost little puppy, really I'd find it endearing if you _were_a puppy but…"

"I already told you why Miranda," Kasumi murmured with what sounded like an embarrassed tint to her voice, shocking considering Miranda felt that the thief was one of the most confident people she had ever known. "I'm not just going to leave you in the state you're in right now…"

Miranda's azure hues, as perilous as the sea, snapped upwards to gaze at the exposed skin of Kasumi's cheek, "state? _What_state?"

Kasumi had the decency to actually look flustered (from what little Miranda could see under the hood) and actually took the time to rethink on what she was going to say; which turned out to be everything Miranda feared.

"Well let's be honest here, you look like a little girl in woman's clothing with all the weight you've lost and it's obvious you haven't slept either," and here Kasumi continued to babble at a rate that is so fast that it became obvious that the thief was going at this speed to lessen the chance of Miranda interrupting. "All I'm trying to say is that maybe you should take a few moments to yourself to get your act together so you don't deteriorate before you..."

Not quick enough. "For the very last time Kasumi, I'm fine and don't need you to personally nurse me back to what you deem healthy for me. Now with all due respect…"  
>Miranda stopped herself from saying anymore at the sound of gunshots filling the air, jerking her head to the side in the direction of the noise and seeing (with dread) that it was coming from the direction of where Oriana and her family had been stationed.<p>

It was as if that one sound set off a chain-reaction; people screamed and started fleeing from their previous venture to rush into buildings for safe harbour, others fled back towards the docking port, some took the risk of going towards the sound however most did the logical thing possible and sent a distress call from their omni-tools in await for Alliance forces.

Well that was all fine and good, but it wasn't what Miranda wanted and it certainly wouldn't make it easier for herself to check out the commotion with the damned Alliance there; hell they would probably shoot her on sight if they saw her there at the 'crime scene' so to speak.

At that insight Miranda yanked Kasumi along with her with a sigh that one did when they utterly thrown in the towel, and that was exactly what Miranda had done all for the sake of Oriana; later on she would probably grow to accept that her decision was actually a very good one but right now impatience drove her on.

"You know you really don't have to yank me, I'd come with you willingly and all!" Miranda heard Kasumi protest sarcastically behind her, not that it mattered what Kasumi said anyway because now that she had insisted she be dragged into this mess Miranda was hardly letting her go now.

Releasing the thief once they had reached the apartment that housed her sister and her family, Miranda gestured with a tilt of her head towards the pistol strapped around Kasumi's waist. "Holster up, we're going in."

Kasumi snorted but did as she was asked, unlocking the tool with a quick flick of her omni-tool before they both entered with their pistol's raised as a cloud of smoke immediately filled their sights.

Luckily for Kasumi she had been equipped for this sort of thing – meaning that yes, she did sneak into buildings quite a lot and yes most of them did contain smoke that was meant to distract her from the real goal – and knew the game to get past such things as a smokescreen, even use one to her advantage.

So this time it was she who grabbed Miranda and hauled her into the warmth of her arms, shutting Miranda's yell out outrage up by pressing her hand over her old XO's mouth and allowing her new improved cloaking device to wash over them both; rendering them invisible to the two Cerberus troopers whose firearms were already out and pointing at them.

Miranda stiffened inside her arms, probably thinking that the troops could see them but quickly Kasumi pressed her lips to the other woman's ear, whispering that as long as Miranda kept quiet and didn't move away from her then they wouldn't be seen.

It had taken Kasumi quite a long time but with the right equipment (which she had already admitted she had stolen from Miranda's tech experts) she had managed to improve her cloaking device further, employing a synthetic made nylon deep into the gritty fabric of her fingertips that allowed the things she touched to also become invisible along with herself; the result – as displayed right now – was a complete success.

"We've been here for six days," one troop said to the other, reaching upwards to scratch at the very base surface of his helmet. "Not one incident and you decide to go shooting your damn shotgun off? You fucking twit."

Removing her hand from Miranda's mouth Kasumi using the hand that was firmly latched onto Miranda's wrist to pull the brunette woman forwards, sneaking past the troops that Miranda glared at as they sneaked past.

She didn't quite know what Miranda was looking for to be honest apart from Oriana, but it seemed pretty obvious that Miranda's sister wasn't here so the only thing she could think of was to try and access a terminal of some sort to see if Cerberus or Oriana herself had left anything worth looking at.

Just as they were both about to turn into another room the troops spoke again.

"The door opened didn't it? And the smoke went off, so where the hell is Lawson?" At the sound of her name Miranda practically froze and Kasumi had squeeze her wrist to try and trigger a response from her.

"Don't know but as you said the door's open so it must have...Fuck it, we need to get out of here anyway."

"You crazy? You heard the Illusive Man didn't ya? Come back with Lawson or don't come back at all!"

"But we did what he wanted! We got that kid Oriana…"

To Kasumi's horror he didn't have time to even finish his sentence before Miranda shot his colleague in the head and went on to shoot the other in the leg, pulling away from Kasumi's embrace with her biotics warping a bubble around the defeated Cerberus troop in case he attempted an escape.

"Miranda we don't have the time…" Kasumi pleaded with her eyes moving upwards to the noise outside, maybe it was just her being paranoid but she could have sworn she heard the sound of vehicles pulling up outside.

Miranda ignored her (just as Kasumi knew she would) and pressed the heel of her shoe into the back of the lone trooper's head, silencing his whimpering with a click of her gun jolting back into his head.

"Tell me where my sister is…" Miranda whispered angrily, pressing down harder until the troop squealed in pain before she reduced the pressure ever so slightly in await for his answer – the sight, to Kasumi, was rather horrendous if justifiable. "Tell me and I promise that you won't get a bullet in the back of your skull."

The troop writhed beneath her foot for a second before he collapsed in exertion, panting with his eyes fixed solely on the floor he was trapped on; it took him a while but soon enough the panting subsided and he finally found the willpower to answer. "I-I don't know where she is _I swear_, I just know that we was told to send her away from the Sol system. That's all I know!"

Miranda didn't believe him, Kasumi could tell by the way her eyes narrowed and she moved her pistol so that it wavered over his spine as if she was ready to shoot him there; another sight Kasumi couldn't watch.

"P-please just let me go! I swear I only joined up with Cerberus a month ago! I didn't know they'd be like this, I thought I was doing the world some good! Like Commander Shepard! Please I have a family, wife and kids, if you let me go I'll leave Cerberus! Hell I'll take them and get off the face of this fucking galaxy just please let me…"

Kasumi flinched at the sound of a pistol going off, silencing the Cerberus troop's stuttering with an almighty bang that made the room shake and for Kasumi's head to spin as blood splattered up across the walls.

For a few moments Miranda didn't back around to face her, instead she kicked clumsily at the fallen body until it rolled over the other Cerberus troop's body before she leant down and retrieved the troops weapons that she latched firmly around her waist with her belt.

"Was there any need to shoot him like that?" Kasumi finally found her voice strong enough to ask the former Cerberus operative, a hand placed casually on her hip in case Miranda saw her words as hostile. "Sure I knew he was Cerberus but you didn't have to kill him so brutally."

"I didn't find it necessary for him to live," Miranda answered with a shrug, turning away from the scene to brush past Kasumi into a room that the master thief assumed was Oriana's room if the pictures of Miranda and herself didn't say anything. "If I had let him go he would have tipped off the Illusive Man that I was onto him, and we don't want that do we?"

Kasumi thought she had an answer to that: in the end it turned out the only answer she did have was to remain silent and help Miranda search Oriana's room as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

"We don't have a lot of time Miranda," Kasumi repeated, a little louder this time to try and gain the other woman's full attention. "Alliance will get here soon and I'm sure they'll shoot you on sight if they see you here."

"Let them try," Miranda muttered darkly before she sighed in frustration with her hand coming up to pull at a strand of dark hair. "There's nothing here! The terminal is destroyed and we can't extract data from anywhere else in the damn apartment! We've hit a goddamn dead…"

Kasumi's head jerked up along with Miranda's at the whistling sound that occurred from just below them and with a quick look under Oriana's bed the master thief's suspicions were confirmed as two red numbers bleeped up at her, slowly counting downwards to the zero digit.

Miranda took one look at her, withdrew her pistol and aimed for the window so that it shattered immediately at the bullet's contact; scattering the pieces all over them before each of them took the opportunity to jump out as gracefully as possible which in consideration was ridiculously hard with the thought of a bomb in the back of their mind.

"Run!" Miranda ordered with her hand grasping onto Kasumi's wrist, pulling the shorter thief along as they raced down the alleyway towards the centre of London where crowds of people were gathered near Oriana's apartment; watching the spectacle so closely that when Kasumi and Miranda finally mingled into the crowds they hardly noticed anything.

That was until the whole apartment blew up in ball of flames, showering the crowd with smoke, charcoal and ash that came from the remnants of the fabrics in the apartment; for the crowd it was a sight of horror, but Kasumi took a guess that to Miranda it was sight of total loss.

She felt a tug of her wrist. Miranda.

The biotic's lip was curled into a frown and her eyes shone with such emotion that all of a sudden Kasumi found it terribly hard to swallow due to the lump in her throat.

"Let's go quickly, before the Alliance shows up." Miranda told her with a gesture of her head towards a street that Kasumi could just about make out would lead to the area where Big Ben was situated.

"And for the record: thanks for the help."

Kasumi looked at her then, a smile breaking out on her face to try and ease calmness onto them both that was may have been unwanted but definitely needed. "Was that gratitude Miranda?"

The brunette snorted and blinked her eyes hard so that the next time Kasumi could see such cold, blue eyes the unshed tears of exasperation were long gone.

"Don't get used to it, now come on. I know a way to access the ports that might give us a chance of finding the ship name Oriana left on."

* * *

><p><em>First of all I deeply apologize for the long wait<em>_, I've been on my holidays and haven't had much time to write anything really so I hope this chapter is good enough for those who waited. :)  
>Also, anything you guys want to see in particular? <em>


	4. The Mask

**The Mask  
><strong>_Miranda and Kasumi work together and the results are catastrophic  
><em>

* * *

><p>What are we exactly looking for again?" Kasumi asked the now-silent Miranda Lawson, peering over her old XO's shoulder to see that Miranda was now looking through files and files of what looked like to be names, addresses, shipment records and the percentages of various sorts of cargo that said ships had carried. "I don't really see how we're going to find the ship with Oriana on by just going through this rubbish."<p>

Miranda actually gave Kasumi the time of day to look over her shoulder with her hand holding up a piece of parchment that looked old and tatty. "This is going to help us find Oriana."

The thief's eyes widened at the crusty parchment, quickly taking it from Miranda's hands to turn it over in her own in case she missed a particular tidbit that made it so interesting but even when she did so all Kasumi could see was names of ships and dates and nothing that would lead them to the whereabouts of Oriana Lawson.

"You know," Kasumi drawled sarcastically, cocking her hip to the side with a hand leisurely resting in that particular spot. "Call me crazy but I'm not quite sure how this old paper is going to help us find your sister?"

The former Cerberus operative arched one of her fine brows in a way Kasumi knew meant that Miranda was critically analysing her and had come to the conclusion that not only was she an idiot, but she had no idea what this parchment contained behind the lettering and on both counts Kasumi had to silently agree with a simple nod and shrug of her shoulders.

Grabbing the parchment out of Kasumi's hands with a snide smile, Miranda pushed past the thief to climb back down the ladder that they had used to gain entrance to the old port records. "Coming?"

Kasumi answered the other woman by peering over the edge with her lips quirked into a smile, "depends where we're going don't you think?"

Miranda sighed in annoyance, gesturing with a tilt of her head for the master thief to get moving otherwise they'd find themselves locked in if the Alliance had anything to say about it; because if there was one thing the Alliance was good at it was at making sure Miranda struggled with everything she was doing and this time would obviously be no exception.

When Kasumi finally got her ass back down from the compartment they had been cramped in, Miranda turned her back on the thief to make her way towards the back entrance that had been left open (as it always was) that led out into an alleyway which would lead them out back into the centre of London; which was luckily enough the exact location she wanted to be.

"So say we find Oriana," Kasumi quipped up behind her with a little tune escaping her lips in the form of a whistle. "What are we going to do next? I mean, Shepard could sure use our help don't you think? Maybe we could use the tech that I borrowed…"

"Stole," Miranda found herself correcting the master thief before she could stop herself, lifting up a hand to cover the smile she felt worming its way onto her face at her own ridiculous attempt at humour that she hoped the Japanese woman hadn't noticed.

She didn't even know where that attempt in humour had come from in the first place, had she gone insane without even realizing herself? Or perhaps Kasumi had managed to trick her as she had used to do back on the Normandy, coming in her office and stealing things and moving them until Miranda grew frustrated and went over to the Port Observation deck to give her a lecture about morals.

She hadn't known why she had bothered considering it seemed to have no effect on the other woman, in fact if Miranda actually had time later on she would indulge herself a little in asking what else Kasumi had robbed because it was obvious from the way Kasumi carried herself; the woman was a thief and she was very, very good at what she did.

Not that she would ever admit it to anyone (hell, she found it hard admitting it to herself) but Miranda admired Kasumi a little, she didn't deny her faults about being what most civilised people would describe as 'the scum of the city' and even revelled in it; she was an imperfect shard of diamond.

And Miranda was the exact opposite, which she knew without need of any fancy use of the extranet or perfect genes; Miranda took as much pride in herself as did Kasumi however it was remotely clear to a man buried six feet underground that they were both very different individuals with very different perspectives.

Kasumi may have been the imperfect shard, but to the world Miranda was the blessed diamond.

"Regardless if I stole your tech or not," Kasumi's words broke Miranda away from her own thoughts, drawing her gaze back down onto the thief that the brunette had just realized was a good head shorter than her; perhaps something to do with her origins? "I think the tech I've been working around with could help the growth of amino-acid foods that the Krogan are apparently looking for to help them with crops, that could be a big help to Shepard don't you think?"

"Whatever you deem necessary to send to Shepard then send it to her," Miranda informed her callously, not sounding at all concerned about whatever Kasumi had said and it sure didn't help that because of her tone Kasumi most likely thought she wasn't listening in the first place. "Right now we've got our own problems, finding my sister being one of them."

It didn't take a fool to guess that Kasumi was silently berating her behind her back at that one sentence alone, but Miranda didn't have time for such stupid games of cat and mouse when it came to Shepard and the Alliance; she had her sister to look for and Cerberus bases to blow up – helping Shepard would have to become a lesser priority until she had made sure Oriana was safe.

Once they entered the centre of London Miranda took Kasumi's wrist in her hand and pulled her along up towards the entrance of Big Ben, looking around hurriedly in the dark for movement before she pushed Kasumi in front of her with a hand curved around the thief's waist to help her movements in the pitch black.

Opening the entrance was no easy feat in the dark but by the time Miranda had finally done it she could hear the sounds of vehicles moving into the area, that signal alone being the one thing that made her push Kasumi more forcefully inside and turn back round to slam it closed; the echoing causing her to shudder as the sound of tyres finally faded off into the distance.

"You're a bit handsy aren't you?" Kasumi's voice piped up in her ear with a cheerful laugh accompanying her tease, causing Miranda to look down to see that her hands were still around Kasumi's waist and – oh honestly, couldn't the ridiculous thief act mature for once?

Rolling her eyes at the thief (despite knowing the thief wouldn't be able to see it) Miranda pushed Kasumi forward once more towards the steps, whispering a quiet 'be careful' when the other woman stumbled on the second step and lifting her arms up slightly in an attempt to guide her up the stairs.

The stairs were narrow and they were placed terribly in a looping pattern that made the possibility of falling much greater than either of them would have liked if Miranda had to guess, still, hiding in here was a necessary precaution that would probably save their lives and that was good enough for her and so it had to be good enough for Kasumi too with no questions asked.

After a few minutes of silence and walking up the stairs Kasumi finally found it within herself to break the silence that had passed between them both, stopping with her hand clenched tightly around a rail that they both finally had found midway up the long staircase.

"Could we wait for a second? I'm, uhm, feeling a little claustrophobic here." Kasumi whispered with a little shake of her head, her free hand coming up to dab at the sweat that layered her forehead. "Never liked tight spaces, don't know how you can stand being in that cat suit all the time."

Miranda restrained herself from saying something catty back by allowing some sort of sympathy for the thief to overtake her movements and for that reason alone did she find her hand on the thief's back, rubbing soothing circles which contrasted greatly with her next words. "If you don't hurry up I'm going to have to carry you up, now come on before someone see's us in one of these windows."

Miranda could just about see Kasumi's face turning to glower at her in the dark because even under the cover of her hood it's quite easy to tell when Kasumi didn't find something amusing, and well that just made Miranda smirk (knowing it's hidden in the darkness of the night) because the thief isn't the only one who's good at teasing; if anything Miranda's far superior at it. Just more subtle.

Kasumi grunted in indignation at the older woman's pushiness, yet just when it looked like the thief was finally going to move her ass forward Kasumi hesitated and turned so that her body took up the narrow staircase up to the clock of Big Ben; blocking Miranda entrance with her stance of legs apart.

"Fine then, looks like you're going to carry me up here because I honestly think I'm going to be sick if I end up walking up one more step." Kasumi told her with a tone Miranda found hard to take serious, however before she could protest of this foolish notion any further the thief had jumped with her legs wrapping around Miranda's waist with such force it took everything not to lose her balance.

"You fucking imbecile!" Miranda actually swore this time, a very out of character thing for her considering she always took it upon herself to remain as deadly calm as possible but bearing in mind she had almost fallen down due to the thief's ridiculous stunt she believed she had a very good reason to lose her nerve with the (fucking) idiotic thief at least once.

Kasumi cooed a low sound into Miranda's ear at that, clicking her tongue to tut, no doubt at the words that had escaped Miranda's mouth. "You know I didn't expect that from you, besides you did offer to carry me. Now up we go! Quick sticks!"

Miranda found herself sighing in annoyance and very quickly she lost the will to fight with the thief any longer, sleep and frustration urging her on up the stairs with Kasumi's legs still wrapped firmly around her waist; an embarrassing spectacle if anyone else came upon them but considering she and Kasumi were the only people here at the moment Miranda let her mind rest easy.

"For such a petite woman you're quite heavy," still that didn't mean she couldn't complain, her bones ached from lack of rest and it felt as though every bit of movement was just another added addition to the weariness that made her feel as though she was sinking. "How you think wrapping your legs around my waist is appropriate I'll never know."

"Well your hands were on my waist so you can talk." Kasumi argued back and without even actually seeing her face Miranda can tell she's rolling her eyes. "I'm sure Shepard would disapprove immensely."

"I was giving you support!" Miranda growled out through gritted teeth, slapping down hard on the thief's thighs so hard that immediately Kasumi dropped to her feet to give Miranda the entry she needed to push back and make her way up the stairs in front. "Now come on, you're holding me up."

* * *

><p><strong>O<strong>nce they had finally gotten to the clock's face Miranda watched with silent amusement as the thief collapsed onto the floor with a tired yawn escaping her, it looked like the day's events had gotten to the thief and now with nowhere else to go Kasumi had pretty much curled up on the floor to sleep; it would have been endearing if Miranda didn't feel so frustrated as she did now.

Waltzing over with her arms crossed to stare down at the scenery of London Miranda Lawson found herself in the sticky situation of not knowing what to do, it was a hard thing not knowing what to do despite having everything she needed right here with her but if that was true then why did Miranda feel as though she was missing something completely?

Quickly glancing at her surroundings Miranda felt a smile sneak its way onto her face at the basic essentials a Cerberus safe house contained, what made the lodging of staying in Big Ben's tower that much more amusing was the fact that Big Ben was (by no means) under any surveillance from the Alliance despite it being one of the greatest wonders when it came to the human race; which had of course made the making of it into an old Cerberus safe house that much more ironic.

Of course the Alliance would find out sooner or later, that Miranda had no doubt of, but she knew the way they worked and she knew very well that by the time the Alliance had finally sniffed her out then she and Kasumi would be long gone from this place and every bit of information along with them.

It was just one room of course, but for now it would have to serve as her base of operations until the time came when she would be able to leave the Sol system again and even then she didn't know when that time could be because she had no idea if Travis had waited around like he said he would have; knowing him, probably not, he never was reliable.

"Why is there furniture and bedding up here? Hell, even a terminal! What the…" Kasumi's voice distracted her once again and with a snort Miranda realized that now the master thief was slouched on the crimson couch that was pushed up against the wall, next to the terminal that had already started to beep and light up as it acknowledged their presence.

At that beep Miranda's eyes widened and with immediate haste she went around the room with her omni-tool, checking for camera's and devices behind the mortar and brick because whilst in truth Miranda had used this safe house before and had made sure back in that time that there was nothing like bugs that could watch her she still didn't want to risk it, besides if it wasn't Cerberus watching her then she knew the next exact person it would be.

She had been there when Shepard, herself and Liara T'Soni had defeated the Shadow Broker and then had stolen his ship; it had been an unforgettable event what with your head being nearly smashed to an almost pulpy mass by a large, metallic desk being thrown at you.

Miranda couldn't even remember waking up to it properly until Shepard's face hovered over her, all bloody and bruised and for a moment Miranda wondered if she could fall more in love with her before she tossed away the idea as if it was a ludicrous waste of her time to think of such things at that moment in time.

Shepard hadn't stopped looking at her however, eyes still too wide and too concerned and it had been too much for Miranda to handle, too much for her to grasp at and it had ended up with both of them frenziedly tearing at each other's armour the moment they had gotten onto the shuttle to take them back to the Normandy; an experience Miranda remembered all too well.

The thought of Shepard still left a bitter taste in her mouth: not even a goodbye that they deemed worthy of the other and yet when the words had left Shepard's mouth Miranda actually knew they meant 'goodbye' forever.

And yet Kasumi was here on Shepard's orders, protecting her (Miranda begged to differ on that one) when the Commander herself couldn't however if that was so then why in God's name did everything feel so uncertain? Why was Shepard so uncertain? Why did it have to happen right now when a Reaper invasion would be on them soon enough? How was that fair?

Still she couldn't let that thought become apparent in her actions and with a sigh of aggravation at her own distraction (not even Kasumi this time) Miranda let her omni-tool scans drop, satisfied that the room didn't seem to have any devices that could be used to spy on her or the thief.

"Looks like we're safe…" Miranda trailed off at the sound of buzzing noise that could only belong to the scanner that the terminal entailed and so when she looked back she could only half not believe that indeed Kasumi had managed to steal the piece of parchment and was now scanning it through the terminal's scanner.

Kasumi sent her a thumbs up with a wicked laugh soon after, it was both charming and irritating and Miranda found herself stuck in between wanting to smack the thief over the head or laughing at how easy the thief had made the theft look.

"Smug little thief," Miranda said instead, making sure her tone was a mix of annoyance and allure that she knew immediately by the way Kasumi's smile arched mischievously that the thief's interest was instantly piqued.

"You love it," Kasumi responded back with her smile fading slightly after what felt like years of eye-contact between them and looked back at the terminal with her back that had formerly been slouched now ram-rod straight. "But uhm yeah, this parchment is actually quite interesting because it's a total fake! These ships aren't even real and yet they're on the shipping records and just, wow. This is some…really good stuff you have here Miranda."

Miranda didn't even have to pretend she had no idea what she had suddenly said to make Kasumi act as though she was on a whole different level, planet, universe, whatever from her when it came to professionalism although she figured it had something to do with Shepard; most things did when it came to Kasumi considering how close those two were.

She took it as a sign that Kasumi herself hadn't seen much of Shepard apart from a few chats, Miranda could sympathize if she tried hard but in all honesty it was hard to take sympathy on a friendship that was so strong that Miranda doubted even she could break them apart; not that she would want to, even she found some things slightly cute – though if anyone mentioned that then they would have to take being buried six feet underground as something they 'most certainly' had coming.

Either way it wasn't a thing Miranda had time to worry about and with a step forward in the direction of the terminal she graced Kasumi with her presence, grabbing a chair and settling next to the thief so they could look at the contents of the parchment together.

"It's a technology based blueprint of what Cerberus was working on when I left," Miranda started to explain, eyes lighting up in a vicious excitement that took away the pangs of hunger and the weariness in her bones. "Because shipping ports are known to delete their records a few days after the ship has gone I snuck this into the old shipping records, it was merely a prototype when I obtained it but with a few tweaks I can access every space port in the galaxy with just a press of my fingers."

Kasumi stared at her for a second, mouth open and very much looking like a fish out of water that had only just realized they were looking into the eyes of a very hungry fisherman.

"You know, I think I may love you a little." Kasumi breathed out with her cheeks flushed in what Miranda assumed to be awe, which was expected if she was honest; she was quite impressive after all, not that she liked to brag or anything. "That is seriously an awesome idea, how come Cerberus let you have it?"

"Who said they let me have it?"

"Point taken, still, it's pretty amazing." Kasumi continued to compliment the parchment scanning with a nod of her head, the action causing Miranda to wriggle uncomfortably on her seat; praise from the thief was something she had not expected and now she felt ridiculous at how she was acting like a new-born child revelling in the praise that had been given to her. Stupid, stupid, stupid…

Miranda's ears perked up at the sound of what she thought to be a roar reached her ears, making her twitch in her seat and look around for where the source of the noise was coming from.

An embarrassed chuckle answered her a few minutes later and when she turned she could see that the thief had gotten up from her chair and was rubbing her stomach at a vigorous pace.

The brunette attempted not to notice and instead settled into the chair the thief had gotten up from, opening up a game of Solitaire to entertain her (even for a brief moment) enough until the scanning had been completed and she would be able to gain access to London's main docking port herself and Kasumi had come from.

She noticed that the master thief however was not as focused and with an irritated grumble Miranda opened her mouth to speak in what she pressed to be a softer tone than her usually sharp snap of words and teeth. "If you're hungry then I'll go and fetch you something to eat."

Kasumi actually seemed amused at her choice of conversation. "What? You go fetch food? For someone on the run you do try horrendously hard to get caught and besides, you and I both know you wouldn't have anything to eat if you went to get the food."

Miranda didn't fully know what to assume when the thief said that but whatever it was she chose to ignore anyway with one little roll of her eyes, allowing herself to become transfixed in the game of Solitaire and silently wondering why such a stupidly addictive game such as this hadn't died out ages ago.

"Thank you for volunteering yourself to go get food then," Miranda responded with an almost smug tone, pleased that she had somehow managed to get one up over the thief even if it was such a small victory considering Kasumi obviously didn't give two flying fucks about what she had to do. "I'm sure you'll be fine climbing up all those stairs once again."

"You are a complete dick," Kasumi responded sourly with her usual sarcastic tone that she took upon herself when she was tired; Miranda just knew about these sort of things, you had no choice but to know about them when they were a companion with you going into the terrifying jaws of a suicide mission. "For that I'm getting you the biggest meal I can carry and making sure you eat every bit, though that's not much of a payback I admit…"

Kasumi," Miranda said the thief's name as loud as she possibly could without sounding as though she was going to start yelling to the heavens any time soon. "Stop being stupid and go get some food, we'll both need it if we're going to be here for tonight."

"Finally, something we can agree on!" Kasumi muttered with another click of her tongue, causing Miranda to grumble softly to herself as she watched the thief turn a corner and depart down Big Ben's stairs.

* * *

><p><em><strong>"<strong>_**I** think I'll have...mhmm…"

Rory didn't really wish to be here in a chip shop near the centre of London, hell he would rather be anywhere but here however he knew if he moved from his post then that damn turian geezer would clip his ear; damn alien who didn't even belong here in the first place.

And now he had this woman in here who he was sure either had a weird sense of fashion with the dark hood covering her face or was someone who was supposed to be hiding, either way he didn't quite care once he took into consideration that truly it didn't matter as long as her credits were going into his pocket.

That was if she made her damn mind up in time before his shift ended, right now she had been in here for a good five minutes and it was just lucky it was so late that nobody else was waiting otherwise he would have had to kick her out due to delaying for so long.

He'd like to say that he didn't truly mind to be honest, but this was the future damn it! His great-great-great grandfather had worked in a chip shop back in the 21st century and here he was now, following in his footsteps because he had no other choice; man, who even wanted chips nowadays?

"You know this is so hard, just pick for me okay?" The hooded woman finally announced with a smile lighting up the little part of her face that Rory can see, an endearing smile he supposed though he would more than likely have found it more appealing if it wasn't for the fact that she had made him wait five minutes when he could have been doing something else.

He almost wanted to slam the plastic cover shut in her face, but with a grunt he controlled himself and started cutting up some fresh meat (a meat he knew not to question any longer) that would accompany the two meals she had told him to prepare because if there is anything that can make him move its money.

"On the latest news from the Battlespace HQ we are joined by a spokesman of Commander Shepard on where the young soldier has been since returning home to Vancouver to be put on trial for her actions of destroying the Bahak system, wiping out millions of batarian lives…"

Rory watched idly as the hooded woman seemed to stand up straighter at the news emitting from the radio signal that he had patched into a side wall, his eyes refusing to leave the twitchy movements of the other woman even when she returned his glances with her own, though with a much harsher look to them.

He simply shook his head and continued slicing away at the meat; he didn't need this today besides how was come everyone seemed to get like she did at the mention of Commander Shepard? Rory had always known from the start that one day she'd go too far in her delusions, he had always said, and yet people were acting surprised at what the Great Butcher of Torfan had done to some helpless batarians.

"Good evening, I'm Ronald Isaac, the speaker of Commander Song Shepard of the SR2 Normandy, from what I can say about recent events I politely inform you that personal questions about the Commander will not be answered." And finally here was the man himself, a useless tool to stuff into a room full of reporters and journalists all looking for a new story that would paint them in such a raw light that people would be foolish NOT to trust their intel.

Rory knew the type.

"Excuse me, but do you believe that Commander Shepard is right about…" A prolonged silence on the radio was actually more deafening than the sound of the woman's intake of breath, "the Reapers? It's rumoured that she has been hiding behind this excuse for a whole three years."

"Turn that off please," the hooded woman finally spoke up, startling Rory from his cutting and making him glance up to see that the woman was shaking in genuine distress. "I'm sorry; I just don't want to hear what they're going to say."

Rory didn't pretend to understand what the hell she was talking about; he instead continued placing the food in the container and kept doing so until his mouth started to run away with him before his mind could butt in and tell him to shut the hell up.

"They're just going to rip her apart," he started with a grumble that had become natural to him ever since working in this dingy place. "It's nothing new and it's nothing I didn't warn them about, soldiers are just politicians with guns."

Still he reached over to switch the radio off with a shrug of his shoulders, getting back to work and sealing the containers up before placing them into a cotton bag which he then passed back over, surprised to find that not only was the thief looking at him directly in the eye but she also had another menacing look on her face.

Still she didn't say anything and when Rory allowed himself to gulp she merely clicked her tongue slyly and waltzed out of his shop, hips swinging enough to catch his attention (again) until all of a sudden she disappeared with only a crackle of electricity.

"Fucking government spies…" He murmured with another snort, turning away to flick the radio back on.

* * *

><p><strong>W<strong>hen Kasumi finally arrived back to the safe house stationed away in Big Ben she was greeted with Miranda's face looking up at her from the mattress that had been tucked away in the far corner, now placed in the middle near the sofa and various other bits and pieces scattered around the tower.

"Wow, you're actually in bed?" Kasumi teased with a chuckle, making her way over to where the other woman sat on the mattress and passing her the container that contained her food, "did someone have to wrestle you in or something? I honestly thought it'd take more than that to get you into bed. Did you…"

"SUV Hawke," Miranda interrupted Kasumi mid-sentence, opening up her plastic container and nibbling at the corners of the square meat presented to her in an attempt to try and remain calm and not lose herself in anger.

Kasumi on the other hand, was completely oblivious. "Pardon?"

Miranda's eyes darkened with such vicious anger and resentment that for a moment Kasumi's heart stopped beating and shivers ran up and down her spine as though it was on replay, whatever had made her old XO so upset must have really been something that could worm under Miranda's skin without even Miranda herself knowing.

"The SUV Hawke," Miranda repeated only this time more slowly with her icy azure eyes penetrating deeper and deeper into Kasumi's skin until it felt as though her soul was screaming for mercy away from the former Cerberus operative's all-knowing gaze.

"Oriana was sent away on the SUV Hawke."

* * *

><p><em>Oh the drama this presents. Will warn you however that I'll be skipping forward a couple of months later in the next chapter. For a very good reason, hope you're all continuing to enjoy and I have to let you know I'm loving all your reviews. Thanks!<em>


	5. The Waiting Game

**The Waiting Game  
><strong>_They wait and wait and wait..._

* * *

><p>Miranda refused to sleep for even the briefest of moments despite the master thief's insistence that she did so, for how could she when at this moment in time the SUV Hawke was flying safely away from the Sol system with Travis still giggling away inside; most likely at her absolute foolishness at how she had become so quick to trust and that trust had meant she had lost her way in the progress.<p>

It had been two weeks since they had discovered the ship Oriana had left on, two weeks since Miranda had forced herself to storm her way out of Big Ben's security _(ignoring the protesting thief behind her)_ to go to the spaceport which had been empty of ships altogether as though someone had decided to clear them all out.

Miranda had remembered briefly how she had hung onto the abyss of intolerance and darkness, fearing for herself at how the anger that she had felt had suddenly started to gnaw at her insides until all she felt was the raw heat of her rage that caused her biotics to flare and for the master thief behind her to step back in fear whilst her arm reached out in concern.

And even now the thief's body was at war with itself two weeks after the incident, half of it wanting to do nothing but collapse onto the make-shift bed she had made up for herself whilst the other half wanted to stay awake to give Miranda some false sense of comfort that the former Cerberus operative didn't want to hear.

Big Ben now seemed like a prison instead of the safe haven Miranda had associated it with the moment she had entered London, keeping her trapped away from Cerberus and Alliance troops alike with its stone walls that always felt like they were moving in closer and closer until Miranda felt a stone like fist grasp at her neck in her dreams and she awoke with a start.

The spaceport had been empty for the two weeks they herself and Kasumi had stayed in Big Ben, something many humans and aliens alike were complaining about as what else could they do now they were stuck on Earth? And for Miranda it just got worse, she couldn't get off the planet despite the ships that were coming in and clearing off again before anyone could hitch a ride out of the Sol system.

And now that she couldn't get off the planet it also meant she couldn't track Travis to his latest location _(which currently was Omega)_ to find out where the hell he had taken Oriana and why, why had he betrayed her trust that had already been so fragile in the first place? She had paid him as much as she could to keep his mouth shut and do what he was told, so what had possessed him to go back on his word?

Hm, who was she kidding? Miranda knew what had made him go back on his word; pure and utter greed – the one thing that could cause a man to carve his way through the universe itself to get to his one goal, she had no idea why the obvious answer hadn't come to her before when it seemed so transparent.

"Pst. Miranda, pssst. You still up?" Kasumi's voice from below the end of Miranda's bed was the only thing that dragged her back into reality from her damning thoughts; an effect Kasumi seemed to have that Miranda didn't quite know if she was pleased about.

Rolling over onto her stomach with her knees bent so that Miranda could angle herself near the edge of her bed, she proceeded to crawl to the very end until Kasumi's hazel-lit eyes finally became noticeable in the moonlight that sprawled in through Big Ben's ornate windows.

She had tried to ignore Kasumi for the past two weeks, not out of maliciousness despite what the thief more than likely thought but out of a fear that had seeped deep within Miranda's very soul at the thought that not only was Kasumi going to be following her into hell _(for what other word could she use to describe Cerberus?)_ but seeing Kasumi get hurt because of her would probably be enough to kill her.

Miranda wouldn't lie and say she didn't care about the thief, because she did – almost ridiculously so – but saying that she knew that if it came to it, she would sacrifice Kasumi for her sister _and_ for the galaxy if push came to shove and as she had thought back before, the thought of Kasumi being hurt because of _her_ was actually harder to stomach than the thought of Kasumi being hurt in general.

The former Cerberus operative almost rolled her eyes at her own train of thought, pushing it aside once more to let one of her arms hang off the side of the bed until she could feel the thief's soft breath on the very tips of her fingers.

"Well if I weren't asleep before," Miranda drawled with a tired yawn escaping her just before she could stop it with the palm of her hand, "then I'm definitely not asleep now. What do you want?"

Kasumi's eyes flickered uncertainly in the dark for a brief moment, looking torn between rolling over and feigning sleep (_like the master thief had been doing every night in Miranda's presence, waiting for the operative to drop off into the haze of dreams_) and actually answered Miranda's question, luckily for Miranda it seemed that her patience would pay off enough for Kasumi to actually open her mouth.

"I just wanted to talk really…"

Miranda allowed an exasperated sigh escape her at that one statement, rolling on her back to stare at the intricate patterns that were scattered around Big Ben's ceiling in an attempt to calm herself down from the high she still felt about losing her sister to a man she thought she could trust and to an organization she had previously been loyal to; just one other thing she had gotten wrong that Shepard had been right about.

Not that she would ever tell Shepard that, she loved her still but even Miranda her limits when it came to that love.

Incensed with an intense anger at herself and how her mind refused to focus on anything else but three things – Oriana, Shepard and Cerberus – Miranda took it upon herself to mentally block those three things out of her head, refusing any other treatment because she knew it wouldn't work, ignoring them was the only way and it would kill her not to think of them, to focus all her being onto them however right now she had other things to take care of.

Kasumi just being one of them, there were other little niggles too but at the moment the Cerberus operative had other things to worry about.

"What did you want to talk about then?" Miranda found herself giving into the thief with another sigh, a hand coming upwards to rub at the sleep that still refused to budge from the corner of her eyelids. "And it better be important because for someone who insists that I get sleep you do an awfully good job at making sure I don't get any."

That at least did draw a light-hearted chuckle from the thief who took the opportunity to sit up to rest on her elbows, staring up at the dark-haired head above her with a fondness that settled into the very pit of her Kasumi's stomach for a reason she truly didn't understand yet didn't care to understand either.

"Do you ever wonder what you could have if none of this ever happened?" Kasumi asked the former Cerberus operative with hesitation clear in her tone, unsure that this was the right topic to be speaking about right now at this time of night when they were both so exhausted however now it didn't seem to matter, it had been said and there was nothing either could do about it. "If Shepard and the Reapers didn't exist, do you think you'd be different?"

Miranda restrained herself from commenting on the last part of Kasumi's statement, because whilst it hurt to admit it she knew that what the thief had unknowingly alluded to was nearer to the truth than she realized; for Shepard and the Reapers came hand in hand even if the blonde commander herself didn't truly think so, it was obvious and it was one of the reasons why being near Shepard was one of the most dangerous positions in the galaxy.

Thinking differently would just lead to heartbreak, a feeling Miranda knew well enough that she had no desire to feel it again for quite some time if she had anything to say about it.

Miranda couldn't really see herself being any different from how she was now if she was honest, sure she would more than likely still be with Cerberus as it would hopefully be less batty than it was now and sure she would at least be in a somewhat stable partnership with the Illusive Man still but would she, as a person, change as much?

She wouldn't know Kasumi that was for sure, or if she did still find herself cursed with the thief's presence then said master thief would at the worst be a fugitive Cerberus planned to catch in its web of lies and deceit; an ending that Miranda inwardly thought would not be fitting for the other woman that lay a few feet away from her.

Not that she liked to think of Kasumi's death because even Miranda had to admit that was a bit strange, if not morbid.

Would she know Shepard? Probably, but probably at the end of a pistol just like Kasumi because even she knew that sooner or later the Alliance would have caught onto Cerberus's movements and then they'd either have to fight or flee; perhaps the fight would have wiped both factions out but Miranda very much doubted that with someone like Shepard in the mix.

"What would you see me as?" Miranda finally said, purposefully forming her words into a question instead of an answer to knock the master thief off that pedestal of confidence that the Cerberus operative knew Kasumi stood on so well.

A snort answered her. "I'm not answering that! You'd kill me if I said what I really thought, which to be honest probably just makes you want to know more but _still_…"

Miranda rolled her eyes at the thief's glibness, rolling over on her stomach to rest her chin in the palm of her hands as she examined the dark-hooded woman under dark, ebony lashes that threatened to slam down in order for sleep to take place; but as she had told herself before – sleep was no longer an option.

"Now I am curious on what you think I'd be…" Miranda drawled with that same sarcastic tone she knew the thief wouldn't appreciate whatsoever but to be honest she found herself not giving a damn anyway. "Considering you were the one who woke me up just as I was about to go to sleep I think it necessary for you to tell me what on earth you think I'd be."

Kasumi took one long look at her from under the hood before she finally relented and sat up so that she could rest her chin on the very edge of Miranda's bed, looking as meek and as mild as a varren who had yet to learn that before they could gnaw they had to learn how to actually bite.

"Promise not to laugh?" Kasumi murmured with a yawn escaping her that made her eyes bleary, a sight Miranda can't help but smile inwardly at because she found it utterly repulsive at how she found the exhausted thief to be endearing and yet still hold the same gracelessness that had been beaten into Miranda since the very beginning.

They were so different, so, so different that it had the remarkable effect of taking everything Miranda believed in and curling it between the folds of reality until she was left gasping for breath, not knowing, not realising, that everything she had ever been had been nothing but a façade that she still occasionally wore without Miranda herself having any knowledge of it.

"Depends if it's funny or not," Miranda answered instead with a small chuckle to herself because even if she did find it funny she wouldn't allow Kasumi of all people to know that little tidbit. "Either way, carry on with what you were going to say."

Kasumi tilted her head to the side with her usual cheerful grin spreading even wider until it took up most of the thief's face. "I think you would have become a Spectre."

Miranda couldn't hold herself back and before she could stop herself a small smile appeared on her face which she attempted to hide with her hand, it was of course a miserable effort but what else could she do now that the thief had seen it.

"I said don't laugh!" Kasumi protested with a tired whine that made Miranda's stomach curl inwards in amusement which startled her slightly if she was honest, was she always this carefree when sleep threatened to overtake her? "I don't see why that's funny, you would be an amazing Spectre I think."

"Apart from the fact I'm with Cerberus right?" Miranda commented with a sarcastic click of her tongue that made the master thief's eyes narrow in frustration. "Besides that I don't have the qualities of a Spectre, though saying that I do wonder sometimes how Shepard managed to be made one with how much seriousness she puts into her time."

Kasumi smiled wanly at that, a hand coming upwards to slink into her hood and ruffle her own set of dark locks, "you don't really mean that about Shepard."

Miranda arched a dark eyebrow at that statement before she looked away, using the brief amount of time she had to think fondly about the blonde Commander who refused to leave her thoughts at the worst times; times like these when all Miranda wanted to do was concentrate.

"No," she whispered with a groan and a shake of her head that all of a sudden felt as though someone had just stomped on it. "I suppose I don't really think that. She's a good Spectre, perhaps the only one who isn't sitting on their arse anyway."

"Too true Ms Lawson," Kasumi agreed with another smile appearing on her face, though it seemed more faded, more tired, as if all of a sudden Kasumi had the whole world on her shoulders and yet attempted to hide it from Miranda by just smiling it all away; perhaps that made them more alike than Miranda would have liked to admit. "Though you didn't answer me really, why wouldn't you see yourself as a Spectre?"

Miranda sighed, irritated. "I already told you why, I couldn't see myself with the Alliance no matter how much I try and wrap my head around it, even if I were at a different starting point it doesn't mean I won't end up going the same route – tracing my footsteps."

"How very lyrical of you," Kasumi replied with a tone that made Miranda inwardly scoff, because how very Kasumi to ask a serious question and then answer said serious question with such utter bollocks it actually made Miranda's head spin a little trying to figure the thief out.

Maybe she should stop trying because Miranda doubted that even Shepard herself knew what Kasumi was all about, and thinking such things when you were halfway there to the abyss of sleep didn't seem to be such a fantastic idea either if the pounding in her head signalled anything.

Still Miranda couldn't quite shake off the thought that the other woman was laughing at her and with her lower lip pulled downwards into a scowl she fired off her own barrel of questions. "Let's turn the tables then Goto, what would you see yourself as if you weren't the thieving ruffian you are now?"

Kasumi chuckled ruefully in response to Miranda's accusation (_because no way was Miranda's tone in any way questioning_) and flopped back down onto her makeshift bed with a weary exhale, the back of her head rested on her arms in a way that tilted the master thief's face up to look up into Miranda's eyes.

Miranda stared back, unable to look anywhere else even if she wanted to because for what felt like weeks it seemed as though nothing truly mattered anymore but this conversation between herself and Kasumi and if that was the truth…

Well, she could handle that until tomorrow morning where it would be back to work, back to no distractions, no Kasumi because Miranda refused to work with Kasumi's presence anywhere near her because like Shepard she was just too damn distracting and distractions could only harm Miranda's efforts, not help them.

"I think I'd be a dentist you know," Kasumi whispered with her eyes narrowing downwards in amusement that Miranda matched with another private laugh at the complete surprise of it all. "And not because I was good at science or anything, nah, just because my mom and dad are dentists."

Despite how very normal that sounded Miranda found herself unable to believe Kasumi being anything but a thief_ because_ of how normal it sounded, as Kasumi was a master thief by heart and soul and to imagine this Japanese woman as anything but that actually made Miranda's head hurt in some sort of vapid confusion.

Strange that Kasumi would have wanted to follow her parents footsteps if a life of thievery hadn't been optional, even if their lives had changed Miranda couldn't see herself taking the same path as Mr Henry Lawson no matter how hard she tried because that was not how she perceived herself; she would not be a toy or a plaything that resembled her father in any shape or form.

"I couldn't really see you as anything but a thief," Miranda finally told Kasumi with a little shrug of her shoulders, rearranging a lock of dark hair so that it fit behind her ears. "You're…Well, good, at what you do. I guess."

Kasumi let out a tiny squeal that made Miranda flush as another dreadful feeling of being laughed at washed over her, stupid, insufferable master thief who seemed to enjoy making her feel like a fool.

"Wow, did you stutter again?" The thief asked with a little teasing laugh that caused Miranda's eyes to narrow dangerously. "Aw, does it really hurt that much to pay someone a compliment?"

Miranda restrained her no doubt growly answer to a toned down whisper of irritation. "I didn't stutter Goto and _no_ it doesn't hurt me to pay you a compliment, however I feel like this conversation has gone stale and because of that I'm now going to attempt to go to sleep, as I was doing before."

"Oh come off it Lawson! I was only teasing!" Miranda heard the master thief protest as she wiggled her way back under the duvet covers of her bed with her head planted face-first against the softness of the pillow in an attempt to try and shut the other woman out so she could go to sleep.

Miranda sighed noisily before she rolled over onto her back. "I know you were, but regardless I want to sleep now."

Kasumi answered her with a yawn of her own and a long groan as the thief stretched her arms high up above her head, a sight that made Miranda roll her eyes and for her eyebrows to arch at goofy Japanese woman.

"Fine, fine, guess you need your sleep more than I do anyway," Kasumi told her and before Miranda could say anything the thief got up from her bed and made her way over to where Miranda had stashed their weapons with her omni-tool at the ready as she picked her way through them to then present to Miranda. "Hey do you mind if I mess around with your Locust? I know a way to increase the capacity of your ammo, now I wonder if the shops are still open for some butter…"

Miranda didn't know what possessed her, because to be honest she didn't even care what Kasumi planned to do with her Locust SMG but immediately she put a stop to it by reaching out with her biotics to grab the thief by the waist and pull her forward until she practically fell into her make shift bed again with a little squeak, even dropping the SMG she had been holding.

"If you think I'm going to sleep knowing you're going to be wide awake then you have another thing coming," Miranda told the thief with another roll of her eyes despite knowing Kasumi couldn't see her expression. "Just go to sleep, we have work tomorrow and I don't want you napping on the job."

"The concern in your voice is so appealing." Kasumi replied back sarcastically, her words muffled by how she was still lying face first on her mattress. "I bet I don't even have a job do I?"

Miranda couldn't find it in herself to answer and so ignored the question, turning on her side to stare out at the stars that she could just about make out from the window of Big Ben.

* * *

><p><strong>M<strong>iranda was alone and even though she knew it was a lie to say she preferred it that way, she still said it to brush people (like Kasumi) off so that she could think in solitude to try and figure everything out.

It was late in the afternoon and from the window of Big Ben she could make out the bustling crowds of humans and aliens alike, standing out even from so high above what with how they all walked, how they all gestured, how they typically looked…

She hadn't seen Kasumi since last night, mostly because when she had woken up it had already been late in the afternoon which explained why at the moment Miranda was still in her too-big-for-her-by-far top (_previously Shepard's since the blonde had made her give Jacob's one back_) and her red shorts with her head pressed up against the window of Big Ben's face.

Miranda knew that Kasumi had let her sleep on purpose, more than likely due to the fact Kasumi had been the one keeping her up all night with a conversation that had made Miranda truly think since the time she had not been on the run; which felt like years instead of months and even then it still did nothing to explain the unbearable ache she felt each step she took and every time she stood up to move.

It did nothing to explain, that was true but Miranda knew what had caused it anyhow for what else could it be but exhaustion and the overwhelming emotions that made her heart feel like it was going to explode in her chest each and every time a day went by that she didn't eat or sleep properly; but how could she with Oriana still out there? With Shepard and the Reapers still going on? How could anyone possibly find time to sleep and eat?

And this, this waiting game, it just made everything worse for the reason that still the ports were empty and still there were no ships and still both herself and Kasumi were stranded here and still Oriana was out there with god knows who and still Shepard was stuck in Vancouver with nobody to turn to and still…

Miranda bit back a dry sob and shook her head: no, she refused to break down now when there was so much to do, so much to change and god damn it why did her body always insist on doing the opposite of everything Miranda wanted?

Why couldn't it just listen to her for once or perhaps that was the problem itself, it had gotten tired of listening to her and now it just took and took until Miranda fell to her knees with her head rested up against the glass and raw sobs escaped her from the very back of her throat.

She was so hungry and so shattered that if Miranda could describe herself now then she would be nothing but a small mouse, whimpering in a corner as the reality of the predator known as the cat moved closer so slowly but with an intent that made Miranda burn with shame at how she could do nothing to stop it; nothing but watch, just like she was doing now.

She couldn't stay here, not with how she was right now, but when Miranda next tried to move she could only stumble and had to clench her fingers around the wooden surface of a table to help her remain steady; it was embarrassing enough that even with her now red and blotchy face Miranda was glad Kasumi was not here to witness her in such a state because the last thing she wanted was sympathy from anyone.

Eat, eat, eat. Sleep, sleep, sleep. Shepard. Oriana. Cerberus. The Illusive Man. The Reapers. Jacob. Jack. Mordin. Thane. Legion. Kasumi…

It made Miranda recoil at how much she desperately needed the thief's help this time yet she knew she would never ask for it since she knew that she would help but with every fibre of her being brimming with a sympathy Miranda didn't want, didn't need because Miranda refused to die down with a whimper like she had just then with that brief hiccup of devastation; she would make sure that nothing like that would happen again because of anyone or anything and if she would have to die to make that so then so be it.

She was just irrevocably stubborn like that, if not a little selfish.

Footsteps and at that realisation Miranda took a leap of faith and bounded her way to sit at the desk with her hands flailing around in an effort to look as natural as possible which of course meant that she probably looked very far from natural, but at this moment in time she could hardly give a damn as long as she hid her face away from the thief long enough.

It occurred to her that these footsteps might not exactly be the friendly allied footsteps of Kasumi Goto but by the time Miranda had turned back around on her chair to reach for her Locust SMG she was surprised to see that it was indeed Kasumi, what surprised her however was not the fact it was the thief but because said thief was carrying a large basket that looked packed to the brim with something Miranda couldn't quite make out.

"Honey I'm home!" Kasumi declared with a cheerful laugh that strangely enough did make Miranda feel slightly better than before, though that was probably because Miranda felt as though she couldn't feel any worse. "And look what I have for you! I'll tell you something Miranda, this guy charged me a fortune for your present! A fortune!"

Miranda didn't quite know what to say to that, Kasumi had brought her a present and still Miranda didn't know what to say to that apart from arch her brow in a dubious fashion that she was sure Kasumi was becoming used to considering she didn't glare back at her in the way she had before.

It is still a relief Kasumi's far away enough that she couldn't see Miranda's face properly, not notice the way her eyes are all red and the way her lips are bitten to shreds in anger and worry; not only is it a relief but a blessing and it's enough to make Miranda soften into a some sort of delicate being under Kasumi's gaze.

But she isn't delicate and that's the problem – Kasumi shouldn't make her feel like that and yet here she is. Delicate flower.

"You mean you actually bought something? You _didn't_ steal it?" Miranda actually prided herself a little at how she trained her voice to remain as neutral as possible, not giving away anything about how at this moment in time she wanted to do nothing more but curl up into a ball and cry – which was petty and ridiculous because she was Miranda Lawson and she did not lie down and take it like everyone else, she fought it to the very end.

"Well I did steal one thing, it was this cute little purple collar and it glows in the…" Miranda's mind skidded to a halt at the word collar, not only did her mind skid to a halt but once that was done it decided to go places where Miranda dared not follow in case her whole thought processes started to become a euphemism which would have been extremely embarrassing now that she thought about it.

"…but don't worry I'm sure you won't mind because then you can have some company if you can't get to sleep and all. Oh by the way, bagels or baguettes?"

Miranda's mind struggled to process everything all at once but in the end she managed to keep herself from foaming from the mouth in confusion by cocking her head to the side, back ramrod straight with her lips curled downwards into a confused frown. "What on earth are you talking about?"

Kasumi just shook her head and started to make her way over to the former Cerberus operative, giving the cue to Miranda that right now was the brilliant time to turn away in case the thief caught on and tried to give her pity hugs and look at her with those eyes that practically screamed of compassion and as usual Miranda did not want that from anyone, never mind Kasumi.

Miranda willed herself not to jump when the master thief placed the basket on the desk next to the terminal, her head bowed and her fingers already at work in prying said basket open to rummage through the different essentials before she pulled out two different bags, the purple collar that she had been talking about and…

"What the _hell_ are you doing with that?" Miranda found herself yelling in alarm, backing up from her chair to stare in alarm at the purring yellow bundle of fur Kasumi was stroking in her arms.

"It's a kitten that I saw in the marketplace that was going to be sold to this dodgy-looking Krogan," Kasumi said with a pout at her outburst and held out her arms to present Miranda with the tiny yellow kitten that mewled and tried to paw at the former Cerberus operative's shirt, obviously with the intent that it wanted to be held by her. "I thought it looked a bit like Shepard to be honest with all the spikes and the blue eyes so I got it for you to keep you company."

"But…why did you get it?" Miranda found herself asking the thief once more despite knowing the reason, she just couldn't quite believe Kasumi had done such a thing and why for her when she hadn't been the most pleasant company ever. "Didn't you think we had enough on our plate to buy yourself a cat?"

"It's not just my cat you know?" Kasumi told her with a bright smile on her face, folding her arms back into her chest so the little kitten rested in her arms. "I got it for you because when I was a little girl I always liked having an animal with me so I could play with whenever my mother or father scolded me for thieving. It's a great stress reliever!"

Miranda tried very hard to comprehend what the hell was going on in Kasumi's brain but as hard as she tried she just didn't understand how the master thief's thoughts seem to follow one path and then jump ahead to another, it was all very…strange. Not that she didn't appreciate the gesture but a cat?

Just as Miranda was about to tell the thief to go give it back, said thief slowly lifted the purring feline up under her hood to rest on the very top of her head with her expression slowly transforming into a happy grin that made Miranda freeze at how unfamiliar she felt all of a sudden even in her own skin.

And then that's when she remembered the events of what happened on the Normandy, a few days after Miranda had taken Shepard and Kasumi to go buy fish for Shepard's new fish tank – because Shepard's priorities were seriously screwed up at times – Shepard and the master thief had been talking about names for their previous pets and…

_"Felix? I had a cat called Felix but he kept meowing all the time when I was sneaking around."_

"_Why? Where did you keep him?"  
><em>_  
><em>_"In my hood, he liked it there but he always kept sliding off my head. He was __so cute __Shep, I was so sad when he died."  
><em>_  
><em>God, it felt so long since Miranda had heard the two of them talk about that incident yet she knew that in reality it had been just a little over ten months however it still brought some sense of comfort to settle within her limbs, warming her up until Miranda's back relaxed into a slumped position.

"Fine you can keep the stupid cat," Miranda told the thief through gritted teeth, running a hand up and over her face to settle deep within her brunette locks. "But don't think  
>I'm getting up at night to let him waltz around the streets of London or feed him, that's your job now that you've bought him."<p>

In response Kasumi merely patted the brow of Miranda's head with a touch that was full of staggering confidence which of course made Miranda feel on edge, because how come the tables had turned suddenly with her feeling so very much like the child she had been before Cerberus?

"You're the best Ms Lawson, me and Izzy will just be making breakfast over there somewhere, far away from your ever busy self."

Miranda resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the thief, instead turning to arch her brow at the still-smiling Kasumi. "Izzy?"

Kasumi shrugged. "It was better than it being called Miranda now wasn't it?"

Miranda huffed at that, remembering very well the outcome of what name Shepard's fish ended up being called at the very end.

And no, she still didn't think it was funny despite the laughter it brought to Kasumi, Shepard and the rest of the crew.

"Oh and Miranda…" Kasumi's voice infiltrated her head again, knocking her off guard to blink rapidly as the master thief was suddenly very near to her face with hazelnut eyes narrowed with what looked suspiciously like an inkling of concern. "You don't have to hide your face you know? It's not like I'm going to point and laugh at you for letting out some stress and tension."

Before Miranda could comment on that (_though she didn't know what she would actually say or do if she was honest_) Kasumi had already turned back around again to make her way towards her makeshift bed, basket in hand.

Not trusting herself or her voice Miranda decided that neither were worth risking in front of Kasumi, if anything this just showed that Miranda would have to be more careful from now on and if push came to shove then that would mean she would have to inwardly clam up in case Kasumi decided that Miranda's silence was her permission to delve further in concerns that weren't any of her business.

So now was back to the waiting game, a game that had grown nefariously annoying in the same way Kasumi had grown exceedingly comforting.

God, she needed to get out of here soon.

* * *

><p><em>Hey reviewers, I messed up on the times last chapter so in case anyone got confused only two weeks have passed since last chapter. This chapter was more of a filler chapter than anything however next chapter will be back onto the action as well as some romance, obviously. :) Hope you enjoy reviewers. ^^<em>


	6. The Arrival

**Chapter 6: The Arrival**

_Hello bright-eyed god  
>It is icy today, yes?<br>Let me protect you._

* * *

><p><strong>B<strong>y the time Kasumi had managed to speak with the ports security manager and rush back to the entrance of Big Ben she was not only exhausted but absolutely livid with how she hadn't went to see the docking ports sooner than she had.

Miranda was going to be so pleased at the news that Kasumi could already see it in her mind's eye and that just made the master thief feel that much better about the events that she didn't doubt would be occurring sooner or later, that was if she didn't stop to stare at the bright, brand-new ships that was coming into port with a smile on her face that she knew meant trouble even to her own mind.

Maybe she should stop in that old sweet shop that was around the corner? Perhaps Miranda would appreciate the gesture? That or think Kasumi was attempting to get her fat, which was ridiculous because if anything Kasumi did think the next-to-silent Miranda Lawson needed more than a simple plate of food, she needed a feast!

Not that Kasumi would tell the other woman that, no she would remain as quiet as a mouse with the slyness of a salarian and slip more and more food onto Miranda's plate each time the thief cooked (because no way in hell would she let Miranda lift a finger, not that the other woman ever protested) them both something to eat because this was just the way she was and nothing else would change that.

Plus Shepard had said look after her and if Ms Miranda Lawson didn't want to feed herself – stupid, that was what she was, stupid and stubborn – then Kasumi made it her life-long mission to do the exact opposite of whatever Miranda said; well, apart from 'don't jump off a cliff' because that was just an unfair abuse of power and she was pretty sure that wasn't what Shepard meant when she said look after Miranda.

And hey, it was a nice day wasn't it? Kasumi knew Miranda wouldn't really appreciate the sun and whatnot but maybe if the master thief asked really nicely then the former Cerberus operative would come out for a walk with her instead of skulking in every damn shadow that formed due to the sun's rays?

It was about time Miranda got out of that stink-hole anyway otherwise she would end up looking like some sort of deranged vampire from the novels Kasumi still kept and she didn't mean the 'Twilight' series either, though saying that the master thief did half wonder what the other woman would look like if she did sparkle…

Izzy's purring at the very top of her head made that thought quickly fly out the window as the thief laughed – at her own absurd thought or Izzy's purring she still wasn't sure – and placed a hand up her hood to stroke the downy fur of the yellow cat, pleased that in return the cat only meowed in response.

That cat still reminded her of Shepard far too much, mostly because Izzy woke up at strange times in the morning just to meow in her face in demand of either being let out to explore or be fed and both times Kasumi had to drag herself out of bed and do whatever the insipid cat of pure evil and cuteness wanted otherwise Miranda would gut her.

_You wanted the cat Goto, not me, so it's up to you to be responsible for the blasted thing. And I swear to god if I find out it's been chewing at my hairbrush again then it's __gone, got it?  
><em>  
>Kasumi had to hold in her laughter by suppressing her humour until it was merely a small smirk, because even if she would rather beg to differ she knew more about Miranda than her ex XO let on.<p>

Mostly because this past month she had been learning tidbits about the other woman without Miranda even noticing, hell she probably knew more than Jacob at this rate (though she supposed that their relationship had only consisted of sex, an assumption Kasumi wasn't ready to ask of Miranda just yet) and even then Kasumi felt as though she had known Miranda since forever.

She didn't quite know what she knew to be massive things about the other woman, but she would try her hand in guessing that what she didn't know would slowly be revealed to her in time just due to the fact it was Miranda and sooner or later her master thief charms would wear the woman down; however that was only if Miranda allowed herself to become wearied and worn enough.

Not that Kasumi wanted to cause Miranda stress! No, no, no that wasn't it at all, if anything Kasumi wanted to help her yet the only problem was that she had no idea how to do that without fearing for a biotic punch to her jaw for being 'too tiresome' as Miranda always eloquently put every time she ordered Kasumi away from her presence.

Personally Kasumi didn't think she was too tiresome, personally Kasumi though she was a little too cheery to become tiresome but obviously Miranda had different ideas and so the thief left it at that most of the time.

But there were things Kasumi did know, oh yes, like how in reality Miranda liked wearing baggier clothing than she let on, like how Miranda was actually the champion of Solitaire, like how Miranda had even fancied Garrus a little when she had first met him, like how Miranda liked coffee and not tea, like how Miranda preferred her toast to actually just be bread that was lightly toasted and how Miranda stayed up late at night just because she could not get to sleep for longer than 2 hours before she woke up with sweat streaming down her face.

Kasumi did know things like that, she also knew that Miranda had no idea that she knew either however that didn't bother Kasumi as much as it probably should have done taking into consideration it was Miranda she was talking about and Miranda usually kept personal things like that very close to her chest.

Another thing she knew was that this thinking was distracting her and if she knew Miranda Lawson then she knew that she didn't think distractions were worth anyone's time, never mind her own, and so with another last look back at the sunny rays that slinked up and over a particularly tall building Kasumi opened the entrance to Big Ben and slipped inside.

"Honey I'm home!" Kasumi yelled up the stairs of Big Ben just as she placed her foot on the very first stone step, grinning at her usual chant that had become a sort of routine every time she vanished from Big Ben to do another trivial task Miranda could no doubt do by herself. "Oh and have you seen the sun out there? It's beautiful! You should come outside and see it for yourself instead of…"

"Would you just come up the stairs already? You know I hate speaking to you as though you're a ghost," Miranda's voice drifted up from the darkness above where Kasumi stood, as deadly and dangerous as a poisonous miasma that tricked with its smell until it was far too late to retreat.

In response Kasumi silently mouthed a quick swear that she would never say in polite company and almost ran back outside to spend the rest of the day with Izzy because she would be damned if she was going to go up there, like Miranda's little servant and do whatever the hell…

Oh who she was kidding? She so was, she was just that terribly pathetic when it came to Miranda that Kasumi knew she was going to go up those stairs, grovel about everything once Miranda scolded her and generally become a suck up due to the fact that she cared about Miranda and would rather see her happi_er_ than she would be if Kasumi just left her to wallow in her own misery.

Not that Miranda ever let on that she was 'wallowing' but what else could she be doing up there in that massive clock tower by herself?

"Apart from singing, dancing and perfecting the art known as Solitaire…" Kasumi mused out loud with another chuckle that rung through the hollow walls of Big Ben. "Or maybe cooking, perhaps cakes?"

The very thought of Miranda protesting that the rules of solitaire couldn't be changed because of artistic integrity filled Kasumi's mind for half a second before she burst out into laughter, clutching at her stomach even tighter when another image of Miranda in a flowery, pink apron decided to catapult itself into her head.

Izzy meowed in annoyance when she bowed her head and she only just about managed to catch the feline by the very tip of one his paws, drawing out a hiss that made Kasumi pat the cat's head in sympathy as she continued up the stairs with a grin on her face.

Once she neared the very top of the stairs Kasumi could just about see that her former XO was still getting changed, that was if the glinting of pale, white flesh said anything to her anyhow and for the most part Kasumi waited outside with her eyes glued up to the ceiling of Big Ben; anything to distract her from looking back down just to see if Miranda had finished yet so not to risk the chance of seeing skin she wasn't exactly allowed to touch.

"Can you at least warn me when you aren't decent?" Kasumi muttered sulkily to the other woman in the next room, eyes still glued to the ceiling whilst she chewed the inside of her cheek in another inane attempt to stop herself from looking down. "I mean, poor Izzy doesn't deserve this sort of abuse now does he?"

An amused chuckle answered her and that at the very least is enough to make Kasumi's day feel great, because it took something funny indeed to make Miranda laugh and so it made Kasumi's heart skip a few beats at the thought that she had been the one to cause that humour, that one spark of happiness in Miranda Lawson's day.

"I have to admit that this is the first time my body has been used to describe the word 'abuse' in any form," Miranda told her, humour making her accent stand out just that little bit more as she pronounced her words. "You can come in now, I'm decent."

Kasumi did just that, eyes scanning the room for anything that seemed out of place – Miranda had warned her to do just that, telling her that one day something might be amiss with even her in the same room – and coming to the conclusion that the only thing that was out of place was that Miranda had not made herself breakfast yet.

Kasumi resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that, of course Miranda hadn't made any breakfast for herself; because she was just so damn typical it almost made the thief want to cry due to the other woman being so stupidly stubborn – god, how Shepard had put up with her Kasumi would never know.

When she finally managed to look Miranda in the eyes again the thief was startled to see that Miranda was watching her, arms crossed over her chest with her eyes narrowed in a way that made Kasumi tilt her head to the side in a questioning manner which did nothing but cause the other woman to once again roll her eyes in irritation.

"What have I done now?" The thief protested with a little skip towards the brunette woman in front of her, stopping just by the other woman's hip and bumping it with her own so that Miranda wobbled slightly on her feet. "I did what you told me to AND I took Izzy out all at the same time, so what's up?"

As if to protest to Kasumi's words the yellow kitten jumped out from under Kasumi's hood to land on the floor, meowing softly and brushing itself up the very curve of Miranda's ankle with a mewl that made Kasumi let out a small 'aw' as she watched the kitten go; fascinated by the fact that this little precious fur ball could make everything seem so much less bleak from her point of view.

She doubted Miranda felt the same way however, if anything the other woman probably thought the kitten was just another nuisance along with Kasumi herself; though the thief knew not to make any of those assumptions just yet, it still did not mean the thought of her just being an annoyance to Miranda did not cross her mind often.

And it hurt to put it simply; it actually hurt knowing that she was nothing more but a mere nuisance to the other woman, yet Kasumi would gladly (okay, not gladly, maybe a little hesitantly) lay her life down for Miranda if it came to it.

The prod of Miranda's finger on her face made Kasumi flinch and draw back, looking at the offending finger with wide eyes.

"You have a suspicious look on your face," Miranda told her in a way of explanation, not bothering to say sorry or anything of the sort – not that Kasumi expected Miranda to even think she needed to say sorry – and instead just turning her back on the thief to make her way over to one of the intricate windows of Big Ben. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you have something you wanted to tell me."

Reminded of why she was here in the first place Kasumi practically sprinted next to Miranda's side, pressing her face up against the windows of Big Ben to look down at the little ants of people below with a frown on her face at the sigh she heard from next to her; she still did not understand why Miranda felt so gloomy about seeing such marvellous views like this, perhaps it was best not to ask in case it was too personal for Kasumi to understand.

It took a lot of silent berating at herself but finally Kasumi risked a glance at the former Cerberus operative to watch (with a silence, unknown to herself if this silence was of awe or horror) Miranda's closed eyelids, her own hazelnut hues threatening to be overcome by a sense of emotional weariness that had just about started to take its toll on her at seeing Miranda slumped against the windows of Big Ben, her expression hidden behind the arm slung over her face.

_'Please cheer up Miranda,_' Kasumi thought to herself with her eyes still glancing up and over the contours of Miranda's cheek and barely distinguishable chin, '_if Shepard knew how miserable you was then she would storm out of Vancouver and come cheer you up, that's for sure._'

It was then that Kasumi decided to take matters into her own hands and with her hand she moved to grab at Miranda's one free arm, tugged at the brunette's wrist with a force that made Miranda glance up with such a glare that for half a moment Kasumi forgot who she was and what she doing, before she proceeded in taking away Miranda's suspicion and gloom away by just being her usual, talkative self.

"You know what we should be doing?" Kasumi said with her mischievous tone becoming more and more high-pitched due the lesser restraint she had at the moment now that she was trying not to let her emotions overcome her. "I'll give you a clue, it involves fun stuff."

That just made Miranda huff and for her eyes to glaze over in what could not be mistaken as anything else but frustration, at Kasumi, at Cerberus, at Shepard; hell maybe it was a mix of all three? Kasumi sure wouldn't put it past Miranda to get this pissed about something like that.

"We should be working on a way to get out of here and find Oriana," Miranda hissed at her with her brow furrowed and her lips curled into something that was halfway between a smirk and a glower. "Something you keep forgetting every time you prance around this godforsaken city doing whatever you deem useful when in fact…"

"Ah, ah ah!" Kasumi interrupted the woman's rant with a hand moving upwards to cover Miranda's mouth, smirking slightly when in return Miranda just growled fiercely behind her hand. "Let's not get all pissy shall we? What I was going to say is that we should both go for a walk! Or even better, go to that little café near the docks! You really do need some filling up, even you're SKIN-TIGHT cat suit is starting to hang loose."

Kasumi slapped at the offending hand that belonged to Miranda when it tried to wrench her own hand away from the other woman's mouth, her smirk widening at the affronted look in Miranda's cerulean orbs at the painful touch of flesh against flesh.

"I'm not taking a no for an answer either," Kasumi said softly with her smirk dimming somewhat into a sad smile that made her whole body ache at how bloody awful Miranda made her feel at times, these times mostly when Kasumi felt useless as she watched Miranda rot away with work as her only solace. "You're Miranda Lawson and I know you can easily toss me out of a window but even you need to get out sometimes, so come on, have some fun! Please say yes?"

With that Kasumi hesitantly removed her hand from around Miranda's mouth, wincing slightly when Miranda straightened up to her full height; towering over Kasumi like an unstoppable force that made the thief shrink back slightly because immovable object she was not.

Kasumi seriously hoped Miranda wasn't going to slap her one, or even worse, throw her out of the window like Kasumi had said she could if she wanted to; it just made her wish that she knew when to shut her gob at times – specifically times like these when Miranda looked far from amused and far from happy and actually looked like she wanted to punch her.

Miranda leaned in the exact moment Kasumi leaned back, causing them both to look rather comical (in Kasumi's mind's eye anyhow) in their different positions, yet still Kasumi could not find a bit of humour in this situation and instead scrunched up her eyes to avoid drowning in the cerulean ocean of Miranda's eyes.

"Okay if you need to hit me then please not the face, it's far too pretty and sure you don't have to believe me considering you've never seen it but…"

Kasumi trailed off at the feeling of someone brushing past her, opening her eyes a smidgen to see that where Miranda had stood before was now empty of the brunette's presence and from the sound of footsteps behind her Miranda was making her way towards the exit.

"You are completely insufferable and you make my teeth ache," Miranda told the thief from over her shoulder, standing dutifully near the exit with her chin tilted high up in the air and her arms crossed over her chest once again. "And I know for those reasons you'll keep pestering me until I relent to your wishes, so fine, I'm here. Let's go before I change my mind."

It took everything Kasumi held about herself not to squeal in delight at her tiny victory, so she voiced it with a small chuckle as she scooped down to pick Izzy up from the floor to place back onto her head – his purring drawing Kasumi forwards to skip ahead of the former Cerberus operative with a happy laugh directed at the woman from over her shoulder.

"You look ridiculous with that cat on your head," Miranda remarked sourly though Kasumi would have been lying if she said she hadn't detected the humour from the little twitch of Miranda's lips. "And just for your simple mind that obviously needs clarification, I wouldn't have hit you. In fact, I'm a little offended you thought I would."

_'Okay now I understand why Shepard likes you_,' Kasumi mused to herself as she started to make her way down the stairs of Big Ben, throwing multiple looks over her shoulder each time she thought she was getting too far away from Miranda, '_you are a sweetheart when you want to be.__ Doesn't change that you're also a bitch at times though._'

"Does that mean you care about me?" Kasumi shouted up to the other woman, resting on the railing whilst she waited for Miranda's slow and steady form to catch up with her.

"It means if you don't shut up then I might actually consider it!" Miranda shouted back with an animosity that could nowhere near genuine once Kasumi caught sight of the shaky whisper of a smile that accompanied the threat.

"I'm going to translate that to something like: I like you really, but if you don't shut the hell up I'm going to have to drown you in the Thames."

Perfect.

* * *

><p><strong>"A<strong>dmit it. This is nice," Kasumi Goto pestered the woman sitting opposite to her at the picnic table they both sat at, gesturing to their surroundings with a pleased expression Miranda could just about make out under the thief's hood. "We have the view, the food, the drink and the company of one another; this is fantastic."

Miranda Lawson sat on the opposite side of the thief, her hands curled together so she could rest her chin on the limbs and her eyes scanning each and every inch she could see of Kasumi's face, testing her expression for half a moment so she could guess the response from the master thief once she answered.

It's hard to be sitting here with Kasumi when in reality Miranda knew she could be doing anything _but_ sitting here, like a lifeless doll that stared out of her mistress's pocket whilst she sat here and had picnics and tea parties however the only difference was that right now Kasumi didn't expect anything of her; well, apart from having fun – something Miranda was having hard to accomplish with everything going on.

Kasumi seemed to notice her distraction because before Miranda herself can reply she's greeted with the thief passing her a ham and cheese baguette, placing it into her hands with such sneakiness that at first Miranda didn't know how it got there until Kasumi opened her mouth to speak.

"Aw come on, you can't really be that distracted you didn't hear what I said," Kasumi told her, taking a bite out of her own baguette (which was considerably smaller than Miranda's own) and practically inhaling it down. "Just learn to relax and enjoy life for half an hour yeah? It'll be more fun this way!"

Miranda knew how to have fun; this was _not _fun. "I'm waiting for this supposed fun at the moment; please do tell me when it gets here." And as if to end the conversation she decided to nibble at her baguette, eyes focused downwards to stare at a particular rotten piece of the table they sat at.

Kasumi still had that unbearable smile on her face even at Miranda's hostility, it's enough to make Miranda wonder if the thief liked being talked down to or if she liked the fact that Miranda wasn't giving her any sense of joy whatsoever; but at that last thought the answer hit her across the face as though it was the most simplest thing to ever happen.

She was eating food and Kasumi liked it when she ate things. Eating meant that she was getting stronger and Kasumi liked it when she finally got over herself and started to eat because that immediately meant victory – and Kasumi Goto liked when she won.

_'Bah, she can win just this once,'_ Miranda thought with an inward roll of her eyes, ignoring the way her stomach soared at the very thought that entered her mind of how it was strangely endearing to know that Kasumi cared so much; she still didn't know why, it wasn't as if they had gotten along swimmingly back on the Normandy however they hadn't hated one another either.

"Oh by the way I've taken the liberty in buying you new clothes and a toothbrush as well as some of those weird chocolate bite things for biotics," Kasumi told her so quickly that her words quickly blurred together, leaving most of her sentence hanging in a way that caused Miranda's brain to immediately feel as though they had been turned into a pulpy mass as thought after thought propelled through her own head. "Just thought you should oughta know, considering how lifeless you're looking right now. By the way do you want to finish this sandwich off? I can go get myself another one if you want."

"Do you ever shut up?" Miranda can't help but ask, her mind still whirling from the onslaught of sentences and words Kasumi pretty much barrelled at her in a matter of seconds.

Kasumi shrugged with her head cocked to the side and her lips pulled into a thoughtful pout; it's another sight Miranda can't help but feel drawn to in the most sickest sense at the very thought that seeing the master thief like this is oddly calming to her anxiety.

"I suppose I shut up when I go to sleep…" The Japanese woman mumbled with her eyes glued almost dreamily to the rich blue of the sky above them, an equally dreamy smile appeared on her face and her dark eyes flickered with an emotion Miranda didn't quite understand. "That or when I'm eating, or thinking, either one really…"

That actually drew a smile from Miranda that she struggled to press back down in time. "I don't believe you for one second, you'd probably froth at the mouth if you actually shut up for a few seconds or so and I'm pretty sure you talk to yourself too when you think I'm not listening."

Kasumi's head snapped back down to give Miranda a sulky look, resting the left side of her face in the palm of her hand. "You never listen to me."

"I do, just not very well." Miranda argued and this, being herself, fighting back with wit and cold words, this _is_ fun. "Besides after a while the endless ranting of 'fun' does become less endearing, hard to believe I'm sure."

"You're so mean at times you know?" Kasumi grumbled with her hand coming upwards to pull Izzy from under her hood, plopping him on the table next to her and stroking at the back of his ears to distract her from saying any more because right now Miranda had seemingly got the power to suck the fun out of everything.

Noticing the change in the other woman almost by instinct Miranda placed her baguette down, studying Kasumi's face once more with her two eyebrows knitted together and her tongue poked outwards so that it was swallowed by the inside of her cheek.

God damn it all, why did such an awful facial expression from that thief make her feel so bloody guilty?

And she isn't used to being in such a situation either; Kasumi's always unbearably happy and cheerful, Miranda's never actually seen the thief become morose and moody ever and now that she's seeing this in the thief now is something that didn't sit well with her because now she had no idea what she had to do to put it right.

That and she found it hard to ever let the word 'sorry' grace her lips, Christ, saying it to Shepard had actually made her cringe and for her blood to go cold; that and Shepard's smug smirk didn't help matters either. Damn her and Kasumi both because they both had the weirdest trick of winding up in her head.

The only thing she can think of is the only thing Miranda does in response to the inner turmoil she felt creeping up inside her stomach and that is doing nothing, regarding the sky Kasumi had so fondly looked up at with a tight feeling that made her feel as though her lungs was going to get sucked from out of her mouth along with her heart and brain; exposing her to Kasumi and every other civilian that walked past them on this fine, sunny day.

"It _is_ nice." She finally admitted with a slight nod of her head and a sigh of exasperation at how something like Kasumi Goto being sad suddenly made her feel ridiculously worthless. "Maybe next time we should go to the café near Chakjor's Park? Oriana told me that the scones there are divine."

That drew a laugh from the other woman and a purr of approval from the kitten the thief had been stroking, the effect being that Miranda finally willed herself to look back down at Kasumi with her eyes narrowed in what she hoped to be an impassive glint as she watched the thief's frown – quite literally – turn upside down.

Kasumi Goto didn't even need to try at being frustrating, she was a bloody natural at it. "Next time is it? Well, well Miranda Lawson I never knew you even cared."

"Don't push what little affection I have for you out of the window," Miranda warned with another small smile that made Kasumi's face light up in joy whilst in return it made Miranda's insides flip and jolt in a way that wasn't entirely unpleasant. "It feels strange being here, doing nothing. It feels wrong."

"If you persist on being all gloomy and sad then that won't help one bit," Kasumi shot back with such a determined tone it was almost as if Miranda was talking to a different person altogether, not that Kasumi is not determined half the time because she is but right now Miranda is finding it hard to piece even the tiniest of thoughts together. "It's why we both needed to get away from Big Ben; hell it's starting to look like a place of doom and depression. I'd suggest redecorating the place but knowing we won't be staying long does put a damper on that idea."

"At this rate? With no ships in the docks? We'll be staying here longer than you think." Miranda muttered bitterly with her eyes fixed darkly onto the purring bundle that had managed to worm its way near her elbow that she had rested on the picnic table.

The bundle of yellow fur made Miranda shudder and for her left hand to twitch nervously under the table, reliving memories of blonde spikes that she had run her hands through time and time again and how that hair had felt so good and gritty under the white flakes known as her skin; how her tongue had followed up and over the crease of collarbone and spine and how her eyes of blue ice had fought against the heat of blue fire and had succumbed to the lust and love deep within her blood.

Did that cat have to remind her so much of Shepard? And why did it have to come from Kasumi of all people? As the kitten got closer Miranda instantly shooed it away, directing her gaze back at the thief with a frown that made the thief sigh and reach over to pull Izzy away and back up onto her head.

"You don't understand." Miranda said immediately, as if that alone can help explain her reluctance to even touch the blasted cat when in truth she realized it just made her look like a coward.

"I guess I don't," Kasumi smiled sadly in response, again shrugging her shoulders and twirling an onion ring around the very tip of her index finger before licking it up into her mouth to chew at the piece reflectively; that one motion alone the thing helping the thief contemplate in a way that baffled Miranda's mind. "I just wish you weren't so sad all the time you know?"

Miranda wished she wasn't either, hell she wanted to laugh and smile and be genuinely cheery the way Kasumi was but that would require something Miranda did not have; and that was something to be happy about in the first place, for without this she struggled with the very idea of being happy.

She would be happy once she knew the Illusive Man lay dead at her feet (preferably under her heel otherwise she would feel less satisfaction) and Oriana and Shepard was safe, that and the Reapers were defeated and she could finally have a rest on a little island in the Caribbean, sipping away at tequila and reading 'Men are from Uranus, Women from Venus' whilst some twerp massaged her back on the beach.

Obviously that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon and so Miranda just found herself nibbling back on her baguette, vaguely wondering why the air around them has gotten cooler and why all of a sudden she felt as if something was entirely wrong.

And then a noise, the most ungodliness noise Miranda had ever heard rippled through the air – the sound a mix between a synthetic screech and the grounding noise of something being dragged across the concrete floor of London – and without even a second to protest Miranda felt the thief's arms wrap around her body and force her to the ground just in time as something flew past her, just inches away from her head.

The screech again sounded in her ears and with a gasp Miranda wrapped her arms around the thief's back, using it as leverage to pull herself up and stare to and thro across her surroundings in search for whatever had caused the ruckus of now screaming civilians running in various different directions.

That answer soon came in the shape of a large, metallic leg that descended down upon herself and Kasumi, missing them by inches and making them both tense up as the synthetic creature passed over them with the intention of wrecking up the café they had been sitting near at their picnic table.

"Reapers…" Kasumi breathed into her ear, chest heaving up and down at an irregular pace.

"What?" Miranda can't help but ask, unable to believe that they had both been crept up upon by Reapers (of all things) without a sense of warning or at least a funny feeling that something was going to go horrifically wrong.

Her suspicions (or rather, her lack of suspicions) rocketed out of her body almost by instinct at the sight she saw when she looked up at the sky, her insides freezing in the most unpleasant fashion and her head spinning in what Miranda knew to be utter shock at what she could see.

What looked like a massive tear split the once beautiful sky in two, a black rip splitting the azure sea and separating the white clouds until all she could see was the horrendous dark synthetic bodies literally falling from the skies; landing in every inch of London with the intention of destroying or harvesting everything in sight – perhaps both.

At this moment Miranda realized she was doomed; she had nowhere to run to, the docks were empty, their hide-out was more than likely being destroyed – or would be destroyed soon enough – and the only thing she had on her right now was her pistol that only fired two shots per rate; not really a good thing to have on a day like this.

That however did not seem to faze Kasumi in the slightest, who instead jumped up from Miranda with the speed of a very hungry varren, pulling her up with a strength Miranda hadn't known the thief to possess until just before looking around wildly with her Locust already out and at the ready as pods of Reaper forces started to descend upon London's streets.

The look of determination and victory inside Kasumi's hues was enough to light the fire at the very bottom of Miranda's soul, spiriting the very essence until she felt consumed in the intensity and adrenaline of Reaper forces rushing to and thro and the screams of every civilian seemed to fade into the very back of her mind.

Gunfire sounded to her left and with a yell that was ripped from the very back of her throat Miranda grabbed Kasumi's hand and propelled herself and the thief forward, dodging oncoming gunfire and the debris of the café next to them being smashed to bits as a Reaper leg collided against the roof.

"Where are you even going?" Kasumi yelled at her over the onslaught of sound that threatened to pop both of their ears, tugging Miranda down next to a large wall that hid them from most enemy fire. "Because I have a plan you know? The docks! We'll go there!"

"The docks?" Miranda turned to look at Kasumi as though the thief had grown three extra limbs in very strange places. "I'm not sure if you've been keeping up but there are no ships in the docks to actually take!"

"Uhm, about that," Kasumi muttered with a look on her face that clearly said whatever she was going to say next would obvious fire up Miranda's ire. "You know before I demanded we both went out for a walk? I was originally going to tell you that, hey presto! The docks have ships in them!"

If it wasn't for the fact that Miranda was too busy trying to throw whatever hellish Reaper husk that had spotted them into the Thames she was quite certain she would have actually hit the thief around the head, because why the hell had Kasumi thought it necessary to keep to herself for all that time when Miranda could have been packing, preparing, doing something that hadn't been fruitless!

"Once we're safe I'm going to kill you in the slowest way possible…" Miranda grunted with a look sent over her shoulder to the still-grinning thief that instantaneously made said grin disappear. "But for now I need you to go hijack a ship so that we can get the hell out of here!"

"Where will you be?" Kasumi asked with her brow furrowed in worry, a strange sight considering Miranda had just threatened to kill the thief.

"Getting our stuff from Big Ben, obviously," Miranda responded with another biotic sweep of her hand, causing a whole group of husks to stumble into the Thames below. "And no I don't want your help and _no_ I don't want you following me either, just do what you're told and I'll be back as soon as possible."

Before Kasumi could protest Miranda hauled herself back over the wall, rushing through another blaze of gunfire and pushing at the husks that threatened to claw her legs off to round around the corner and onto the path towards Big Ben.

* * *

><p><em><em>

_Phew, that was a long one eh? And I'm completely shattered at the end of it too. Hope all enjoyed and as a treat a preview of the next chapter.__  
><em>_  
><em>

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><p><strong><em>Preview:<em>**  
><em>Miranda didn't quite understand why the superior forces of this world seemed to hate her but apparently they just did, if not to make her life completely frustrating but just to humour themselves.<em>  
><em>"Why don't you ever listen to a word I say?" Miranda yelled at the figure running up the stairs of the clock tower, pressing down the urge to throw said figure back down them by biting at her lip until it became too painful for her to think properly.<em>


	7. Crash Land

**Chapter 7: Crash Land  
><strong>

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><p><em>Miranda learns something new about Kasumi Goto: it's this - she never listens<br>_

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><p><strong>K<strong>asumi sat at the helm of the _Black Wand_ with her fingers tapping out an anxious pattern against the many buttons presented to her and Izzy, whom still sat at the top of her head, eyes glued straight ahead at the masses of people streaming into the docks with every intention of getting the hell out of there.

She didn't like sitting here and doing nothing whilst people out there clambered up and down ships, banging on hatches to demand to be let in and screaming at the top of their lungs for help when Kasumi could do nothing but wait and watch; it was the most damning thing Kasumi had ever had to watch in her life.

"Shit, Miranda where the hell are you?" Kasumi murmured with her eyes wavering hesitantly over the ports doors that kept opening wider and wider, bathing the _Black Wand_with what little sunlight the Reapers had not taken up and allowing Kasumi to see out towards what little of London's streets she could see.

Kasumi still couldn't believe that Miranda had thought it necessary to actually drop everything (like escaping) to rush back to Big Ben and collect their things, something Kasumi wouldn't have thought Miranda would deem indispensable if she was being truthful, but then again it would be ridiculous of her to even assume she knew what was going on inside Miranda's head most of the time.

And what bothered Kasumi even more was that she had let her! Had let her run off with not even a '_now hold on a second_' to follow the other woman along, it just made Kasumi feel even less worthy of herself at that moment in time and with a groan of irritation at herself she flicked a finger over a button to turn the air dispenser on.

It was so loud that it even blocked out the screaming, something Kasumi was grateful for if nothing else; not that it did much to block the 'imaginary' screaming from the thief's head because far from it, their voices were just_ that_loud…

That and the horrible thought that Miranda had got hurt somehow wouldn't leave her alone either, god damn it Shepard wouldn't even be able to kill Kasumi if Miranda got hurt because the thief would just do it herself; a very depressing thought now that she thought about it, she was actually starting to sound like Miranda.

Not that there was anything wrong with being Miranda, because hey, from what Kasumi had seen of her that genetic modification really did seem to go a long way because…_whew_.

"There is a Reaper invasion happening right now, right outside these four walls…" Kasumi told herself slowly with a shake of her head, looking momentary confused at why the hell she had said it out loud in the first place. "And I'm thinking about how modified Miranda's body is? What the hell is wrong with me?"

Kasumi ignored her own raving mind and got up from her seat in the _Black Wand_, starting to pace up and down the barrier separating the cockpit from the small CIC area stationed near the exit; a horrendous thought forming inside of her head.

What if Miranda had got hurt making her way back to Big Ben? What if the other woman had decided that this was actually a perfect excuse to ditch Kasumi and catch a flight on another ship and leave her? Would Miranda actually be cruel enough to do such a thing?

Kasumi had her suspicions.

No, she took that back. Miranda wouldn't do that, she just wouldn't.

Kasumi groaned and cupped her forehead, leaning back against the control panel and sighing at the comforting press of Izzy's head against her spine because comfort right now was not the thing she needed, far from it in fact as the only thing that seemed to calm her – in a rather sadistic way – was being in Miranda Lawson's presence who by far was the least comforting person ever.

The thief was sure that if she even thought of asking Miranda for a hug all she'd receive was the biotic giving her an amused glare (or something in between) before ignoring her completely, so it was the way of Miranda whenever it came to affection from Kasumi, or perhaps just people in general. It wouldn't exactly shock the thief if her suspicions turned out to be correct after all.

Not that Kasumi often thought of hugging Miranda, no that would be ridiculous and particularly dangerous considering Commander Song Shepard was one of her best friends and the very risk of feeling a slight twinge of emotional affection for Miranda Lawson might actually be enough to put her on the very top of Shep's shit lists.

"Hell, maybe even above the Reapers…" Kasumi murmured thoughtfully to herself before she broke out into a grin, ignoring the way the _Black Wand_had started to shake and how the sounds of screaming grew louder from outside because she knew if she let that one flicker of remorse grow over her then she would be trapped in its web.

She realized far too late how callous that thought had been and with a gasp of anguish Kasumi turned her back on the exit and made her way back towards the control panel of the ship, flicking a few switches and placing herself in the pilot's seat with a stony expression set on her face.

Izzy climbed up on top of her lap and pressed his head into her stomach, purring contently and rather loudly which of course contrasted greatly against the screams and the mechanical noises happening outside of the ship; Kasumi would have to make sure next time that she would have to sound-proof the thing, that was, if there was even going to be a next time.

She kept her eyes trained on the hanger doors as she flicked a few more switches on and turned on the auto pilot, punching in coordinates a mile a minute whilst at the same time trying to keep her cool and not absolutely freak out at the possibility this whole thing would go very, very wrong if she messed up.

"Let's play a game." Kasumi stated with a shaky grin appearing on her face as she took off out of the hangar with Izzy clawing at her thighs for dear life.

* * *

><p><strong>M<strong>iranda actually could not believe her luck at this moment in her life, if she had to put a name to it she would probably refer to this moment as the time where 'thousands of fireworks went off in her head and she really wished they hadn't because right now she had a headache'.

Muttering bitterly at her own attempt at humour Miranda heaved open the doors to Big Ben, retreating back a few steps as a waft of thick, heavy smoke collided in her face and caused her to cough and for her eyes to sting at the rancid heat that she was sure would cause her make up to sweat right off her.

Not that it was the right time for that, oh no, she had things to do and if she dawdled any longer than Miranda was certain she would end up under the foot of one of the Reaper batarians (if that was what they were, the structure of the face was far too familiar to be anything else but batarians) with no other way to escape.

Climbing up the stairs of Big Ben two at a time, Miranda sucked in a large breath at the smoke that was coming from the very top of the tower, said smoke only causing her to go faster in fear that all her hard work (their hard work) would have already gone to waste and she would be left with a big fat nothing.

Funny how things such as work and belongings seemed to take over most of Miranda's thoughts, especially what she knew the thief would refer to as using her common sense and getting the hell out of there; but then again, Kasumi still did not know how much progress she had made (little by little) and would never understand that such progress was not something Miranda would throw away easily.

Miranda needed everything stored in that tower to help her find Oriana and take the Illusive Man down, if that all got lost in the fire then she would no doubt have to start from scratch once again and that was not an option.

And if she couldn't get everything? Well, she would just have to take the most important things with her and destroy the rest, so that nobody could ever find out whom she was and what her purpose was here and decide that it would be a good idea to follow her and Kasumi out.

Not bloody likely, she would rather die first and let the flames take her than Cerberus scum place one hand on her or the master thief because if Kasumi really wanted to be part of this whole thing then fine, it would just mean Miranda would have to watch both of their backs.

Finally she reached the very top of Big Ben's tower stairs, one hand still covering her mouth whilst the other swatted away the smoke that came from the fire that had set her bed alight or what was little left of her bed; either way it seemed pretty obvious that nothing would be remaining here if Miranda did not hurry herself up.

She pushed her way through the smoke to enter the room, eyes scanning through each corner of the room and to the terminal that was thankfully still intact despite the fact that due to the destructionist nature of the Reapers one quarter of the tower's roof had been ripped away from the clock tower.

The wind whipped at her clothing like a phantom trying to penetrate into her soul, it was an experience Miranda had not really wanted to happen again considering last time she had battled a wind like this she had ended up being thrown off with only Shepard for company, and that was before she had started sharing Shepard's bed so to say the wait for someone to rescue them had been uncomfortable was the understatement of the century.

And still the smoke decided to travel down the stairs? Something was not right here, everything seemed so planned and ordered, like her coming back here had in fact been a mistake, a trap, a snake in the grass.

It was something Miranda told herself to worry about later on as she dashed towards the terminal with her omni-tool at the ready, already scanning and taking away the files and data she had stored for safe-keeping inside said terminal and opening up the drawers next to it with her hand, grabbing heat clips and stuffing them into her belt before retreating back to grab any other objects she would need and stuffing them too into her belt.

A sound of the heavy steel doors opening below her made Miranda freeze in what she was doing and look over her shoulder, cerulean eyes wide in fear as each and every scenario of terror filled her head until all Miranda could think about was who the hell in the right mind would enter a burning building willingly if they didn't know Miranda Lawson, wanted ex-Cerberus operative, was up there?

It could either be Leng, whom Miranda knew had planned to gut her the very moment they met again considering last time she had humiliated him in front of the Illusive Man or it could be Kasumi who stupidly enough never listened to a damn word Miranda said, it was enough to make her think that the thief did such things on purpose in an attempt to wind her up.

_'__Damn her to hell_,' Miranda thought with a roll of her eyes the moment she finished latching her Locust back onto her belt and stood back up with the data on her omni-tool stored safely away, '_that thief is the biggest nuisance I've ever been unfortunate enough to meet.__'  
><em>  
>Miranda crossed the room (carefully avoiding the raging inferno drawing closer to her) to grab some other necessities that she could carefully slip into the remaining holsters that her belt provided, her eyes still carefully trained on the stairs despite how ridiculous she felt for becoming so paranoid at a time like this.<p>

Oh if the Illusive Man could see her now, could see how much his presence and very being had affected her; he would finally see that the power he held was not a gift nor was it a curse; it was a disease that started out slow and only made the body decay faster when the time was right – a disease that Miranda had caught and was slowly succumbing to.

"_Well fuck you_," Miranda muttered to herself as she reloaded her Carnifex heavy pistol and started to make her way back towards the clock tower steps with her thoughts racing a mile a minute, the unfortunate drawback of having a mind that worked as hard as hers did she supposed.

As she entered the little alcove that would direct her to the steps Miranda saw something that made her freeze. She didn't quite understand why the superior forces of this world seemed to hate her but apparently they just did, if not to make her life completely frustrating but just to humour themselves.

"Why don't you ever listen to a word I say?" Miranda yelled at the figure running up the stairs of the clock tower, pressing down the urge to throw said figure back down them by biting at her lip until it became too painful for her to think properly. "I told you to stay at the docks! Do you actually think you're amusing enough to make me not want to throttle you!"

The figure ignored her completely and for a moment Miranda wondered why the hell Kasumi hadn't said anything witty back as she usually did, however she chose to ignore it and continued her way down the stone steps with her eyes continuously rolling at the complete idiocy that was running up the stairs towards her.

Miranda shielded her eyes once more from the smoke as she descended the steps, still glaring heatedly at the dark figure that she still couldn't make out entirely due to the blasted smoke but she did have a feeling it was Kasumi by how small the stature of the woman coming towards her was, but now that she had her doubts Miranda knew by instinct alone she wouldn't be able to focus properly until she could properly see who was coming towards her.

And by how there was no witty response? No cheeky calling of her name? No 'honey I'm home?' Nothing seemed right anymore, nothing seemed real and nothing seemed to be going the way was she hoping for it to go.

Unlatching her Carnifex pistol from her belt at a speed unknown to even herself Miranda rushed down the stairs two at a time, eyes trained on the figure that had stopped midway to wait for her with that dark hood still pulled over the person's face; an attempt to hide their face away from Miranda until the very last moment – it was that moment Miranda was preparing for and so when she was finally just five steps away from the other individual she raised her pistol with her lower lip set into a grimace.

"Show yourself," she ordered with her jaw clenched as a growl ripped from her throat at the slight twitch of movement that came from the person opposite to her. "And I swear to everything holy if that's you Kasumi then…"

Miranda didn't have time to finish as she interrupted her own sentence with a gasp escaping her at the sight of the person in front of her now that they had pulled the hood down, her cerulean hues crashing against the ever-furious lightning bolts of azure that was so familiar  
>to her own that in a way they were almost identical.<p>

But wait, what? How? When? Even better, why?

Whatever hesitation she might have that this imposter was out to kill her was confirmed at the feel of strong (almost metallic) hands that clutched at her throat and lifted her high up in the air, the dark hair of the imposter shielding most of the smug smirk that had appeared on the familiar face of her destroyed, said smile only widening each time Miranda tried desperately to gasp for the air that her lungs desperately needed.

Her destroyer cocked her head to the side, a pale white hand pressing downwards on the clip that was attached to a very thin strand of dark hair whilst her mouth moved so fast that it took Miranda more effort than usual to catch what her assassin was saying:

"Permission to terminate?"

A click on the other side: "permission granted. Exterminate quickly and cleanly and proceed to meet the thief."

Miranda's eyes widened at the order and in an instant she felt her biotics surge in such a furious wave that the fingers around her throat slackened almost immediately and with a gasp of relief Miranda allowed herself to tumble forwards, crashing her body against the body of her assassin and using it to take most of the damage as they both stumbled down the large staircase of stone with their yells of pain accompanying the hissing sound of the fiery inferno up top.

When she finally landed at the very bottom of the tower Miranda had the unfortunate realization that she may have just broken her ankle for the pain she felt there was absolutely blistering, it made her want to curl into ball and scream at the sharp pain there that was being pressed onto due to her assassin's left leg trapping her down upon the other's body, it was a pain Miranda had experienced before yet still hadn't got used to even now when it was once again presented to her.

But now wasn't the time to think of that, instead Miranda felt the panicky thoughts of '_I'm trapped, I'm trapped, I'm going to die, Kasumi will die_' roam through her head in its place, these thoughts alone being the one of many things that made Miranda finally awaken from her fit of delirium to ignore the pain and once more push (with her biotics) at the leg that trapped her against her enforcer.

She winced at the pain but ignored it enough to crawl away from her attacker so that her stomach had just about slithered over the assassin's face, a slow but steady progress that no doubt would be no good if this enforcer decided it would be a fine time to wake up and finish her off.

But saying that…

Miranda reached for her pistol and sluggishly pulled herself on her side so she could aim said pistol at her attacker's head before firing three rounds into the side of the head, not truly surprised to find out that the heat sinks immediately ricocheted right back at her to become black splatters in the wall.

Damn it, nothing was going right today now that she had some robotic assassin (who she was now certain was being controlled by Cerberus) after her with a strength that had shocked Miranda in its intensity and brutality to finish her off; but why now of all times? Why had the Illusive Man decided that now was the perfect time to send someone after her when it seemed obvious he had known she had been on Earth, in London, for quite a while?

The docks! No wonder he couldn't get at her with the docks closed, an event Miranda had suspected had something to do with Cerberus but now she wasn't so certain considering this assassin's late arrival; but saying that how on earth did he also know that Kasumi had been the one to accompany her as well?

That name made Miranda stop for a moment, her body once again frozen as the master thief's name seemed to become a chant inside the depths of her ears and the memories were the essence of Miranda's soul; her thoughts of Kasumi and the voice that had ordered the robotic enforcer melded together until all the ex-Cerberus operative could think about was Kasumi's poor, lithe body being crushed under a metallic foot of steel that was shaped very much like her own foot.

Miranda had always been a pessimist and before that a realist, she knew very well that at this rate she would not be escaping London with her ankle as broken as it was and that the only other option was to either call Kasumi to try and get her to rescue her – whilst risking her life by fighting through thousands of Reaper forces – or to contact Kasumi to send her away, to save herself rather than save Miranda.

The raven-haired woman sighed at her predicament; life truly was a pain in the ass at times, but if she was being honest with herself she knew very well how much she disliked heroes. And she was no hero and neither was Kasumi Goto.

As she continued to slither up and over her attacker, Miranda pressed down hard on the communicator connected in her omni-tool to try and contact Kasumi and was rewarded almost immediately at the sound of the other woman panting in a way that made Miranda roll her eyes; obviously the girl was running back, exactly the thing Miranda hadn't wanted her to do.

"What the _hell _is taking you so long?" Kasumi yelled at her properly for the very first time, shocking Miranda into a silence for a moment at how all of a sudden she felt sincerely told off however she quickly regained her usual icy nature at the sound of gunfire from Kasumi's end. "Ach! I swear this thing is hard to drive, ahem, anyway, as I was saying…"

Miranda scoffed; at times she really could not believe the crap that came out of this thief's mouth. "Turn back around and get the hell out of here, Big Ben's long gone so there's no point in you coming back."

"What?" Did Kasumi have to gasp like that? It just made Miranda feel as though she was one of those sickly little princesses waiting for rescue, a feeling she hadn't felt since she was fourteen years old, a feeling she had never wanted to feel again.

"You heard me, get out of the Sol system and go find Shepard," Miranda wheezed as a hacking cough started to invade her throat with a force Miranda had not been prepared for. "She could use your expertise if you find her or could give you a clue on how to find Oriana, perhaps…"

"Are you stupid?" Kasumi interrupted with a mocking laughter that made Miranda bristle in indignation – she was far from stupid. "Do you really think I'm going to just leave you behind just because you told me to?"

"Damn it Kasumi this is an order!" Miranda growled threateningly down the comm, punching the ground underneath her with an anger she had not felt for a very long time. "You go on that ship and you get out of here! That is an order, do you hear me? I'm surrounded by Reaper forces most likely, more than you'll be able to take on so just listen to me for once in your god forsaken life and _LEAVE!_"

Miranda hadn't truly known how much energy her yelling had put her through until she felt herself start to wheeze and her whole body seemed to shake immediately afterwards with an intensity that made her teeth ground together, it was overall a sensation she truly did not want to feel ever again as long as she lived if she was completely honest but that wouldn't have to be much of a worry soon considering the dire situation she had found herself in.

For a moment she allowed herself to think about everything she had accomplished in Cerberus despite her their failings right now, every little thing that she had managed to change and make new to make the universe a better place for humanity. It was something Miranda didn't really think about a lot if she was honest; far more preoccupied with the fact that in truth she had lost far more than she had accomplished and there was nothing she could do about it.

How droll to think of these sort of things when she was certain she was about to die, oh well, at least she wouldn't have to put up with Kasumi's constant pestering voice and just being a plain nuisance despite the affection Miranda did feel for the thief.

A crackle from her omni-tool reminded her that Kasumi was still communicating her and so with a huff Miranda hauled her arm towards her face to once more give the thief an order, knowing very well that despite the silence Kasumi Goto would no doubt still be thinking over her options regardless of what Miranda said.

"You're really stupid if you think I'm leaving you," Miranda heard the thief mutter before she cut the rest of Kasumi's sentence off with a long, loud scream that eventually caused her throat to go hoarse at the feel of long, strong fingers around the broken bone of her ankle.

She glared down at her aggressor and with a sharp kick she connected her good leg with the other's face, causing it to momentarily pause in what it was doing and giving Miranda enough movement and leverage to crawl completely off her attacker's body and make her way towards the heavy steel doors that blocked London's streets from her view.

If Kasumi appeared right in front of her now then it would be little less than a miracle as well as the second most annoying thing to ever happen to Miranda today because the thief just did not listen to a word she said, whilst the first being that she was sort of being attacked by a robotic entity who really liked breaking things inside her body; completely marvellous this day she was having and let's not forget the Reaper invasion that was happening as well…

Another grab at her damaged ankle made Miranda's eyesight blur with tears of pain before she yelled out in a rage that triggered her biotic power, sending the assassin backwards to crash violently back into the staircase they had both tumbled down with a force that had momentarily crippled her chances of fast movements.

A large gust of wind brought Miranda's attention to the now opened steel doors in front of her, causing her to pause in awe at the sunlight that flittered past the gaping thief (who would not stop looking at her ankle) in such a fashion that it made her temporarily forget that was going to be pulverised if she did not move quickly.

She was soon reminded of that fact by the immediate shock on Kasumi's face and how the thief immediately hastened for her Locust to fire bullets at what Miranda guessed to be her attacker, the commotion causing many of the escaping civilians to glance around in their general direction in search for Reaper forces they believed to be causing the noise.

A shriek that sounded distorted and mechanical signalled to Miranda that despite the hard shell for a body the robotic assassin had still taken quite a bit of damage, perhaps enough that she would actually manage to crawl through Kasumi's legs to get to wherever the hell the thief planned for her to go.

She restrained a snort at her own thoughts: Kasumi, with a plan? That would be the day now wouldn't it?

As if the thief had heard her thoughts Miranda was greeted with Kasumi's face pushed up against her shoulder as said thief lifted her up, arms straining from the weight whilst her head moved in jerky movements to try and rip the cork out of one of the thief's own smoke grenades that would allow them to get away as undetected as possible.

It would have been an entertaining sight if Miranda didn't feel as though her ankle was going to drop off anytime soon, but of course it did feel that way and she must have obviously showed it in her expression by the eye roll Kasumi gave her just the thief managed to drag them both outside and away from the steel doors and cutting the robotic assassin off with a smoke grenade almost immediately afterwards.

Miranda kicked out with her good leg to slam the open doors shut with a biotic kick, effectively trapping the assassin by how a large piece of rubble conveniently fell from Big Ben's tower to cover the main entrance and the main way of escaping the tower.

"Useful!" Kasumi said breathlessly in her ear, dragging Miranda forward a bit more until all the ex Cerberus operative could do was rest her chin on the thief's shoulder to try and gain a bit more balance.

"More like very convenient," Miranda muttered with a gasp escaping her at the sensation of her ankle connected with some scattered debris that had escaped from Big Ben's tower. "And I told you not to come back."

Kasumi didn't answer her straight away which effectively put Miranda on her guard at the thief's silence, yet that soon changed when she felt hands cup the skin just under her arse and lift her so that her stomach fell flat over the thief's shoulder and the hands that had cupped her were now fastened around the very top of her legs. It was an almost surprising display of Kasumi's strength which Miranda would have been slightly impressed with if it wasn't for the fact that she now felt inferior in every way, shape and form.

At least from this vantage point she would be able to tell if their robotic assassin would be coming at them as well as Reapers forces from behind, it was at least one advantage Miranda hadn't had before until now. Joy of joys.

"It would be you to complain about me rescuing your sorry behind," Kasumi quipped with a laugh that did not contain the usual cheeriness, instead replaced with anxiousness and fear that almost made Miranda feel paralyzed like a delicate flower in the thief's arms. "Not even a thank you, I feel a bit insulted."

Miranda rolled her eyes and reached into her belt to pull out her own Locust SMG to shoot aimlessly at two oncoming batarian-styled Reapers, watching them fall with a satisfaction that riled her adrenaline up enough she could now start to talk without wanting to throw up in the progress.

"Where are you even taking me? We're stranded here because you left the ship at the port to come and find me!" Miranda complained with a hand coming to cover up her mouth as she coughed down the sudden urge to collapse at the dizziness she all of a sudden felt. "What made it even worse is that you came when I explicitly told you not do so!"

"I don't think you've realized yet but…" Kasumi drawled with a grunt and a shot of her pistol that told Miranda that the thief was speaking to her whilst fighting Reaper forces. "I never listen."

Miranda couldn't stop her bitter laugh escaping her even if she tried but that only made the weariness she felt worse, that and it made her coughing wheeze become a coughing fit and for stars to appear in front of her very eyes whilst her mind ached with a pain that was familiar enough she knew that it was the after effects of her biotics; a repercussion due to her lack of appetite as of late.

Just when she thought her pain couldn't get any worse did Miranda experience a sharp, stinging pain that pricked at her temple with a force like no other; the pain inflaming her head directly and causing her to scream whilst her eyes slammed shut and darkness overtook her.

* * *

><p><strong>I<strong>t didn't feel like long but when Miranda woke up she was pleasantly surprised to see that she was tended to by none other than Kasumi Goto, her Japanese friend's face being an almost blessing to wake up to despite everything that had happened previously between them.

From the way she kept rocking side to side slightly Miranda could tell that she was on a ship, so that meant she was also away from London, which also meant she was away (somewhat) from the Reapers and that meant…

"You're safe now," Kasumi told her at the same time as wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her up against what felt like the headboard of the bed she had been placed in, the thief was even kind enough to help pull the duvet up as well to cover Miranda's body more tightly in the warm sheets. "Although for a moment I thought you weren't going to be after you collapsed on me, you were foaming at the mouth and everything."

Miranda attempted to speak but instantly stopped once she realized that no matter what she said it would just come out wrong, so instead she merely nodded and rested her head on the headboard provided and sighed deeply.

However it wouldn't be too hard to say thanks for saving her life now would it? No, she could do that, Kasumi had earned her gratitude ten times over.

"Thank you for saving me," Miranda murmured with her eyes cast downwards at her lap despite the urging of her usual instincts to look into the thief's eyes, for some reason it felt as though if she did that then the whole world would crumble around her, "even when I told you not to."

Kasumi smiled in reply and continued to rub the salve (it was cool, soothing, reliable; a bit like Miranda herself) on her fingers over Miranda's burned wrists (the robotic assassin had nearly incinerated her damn fingers off too) with a dopey look as her expression, almost looking pleased at the job she was doing.

But of course the silence was too comfortable for Kasumi and Miranda knew that it would only take a matter of time before the question she feared would leave Kasumi's lips.

"So, care to explain why that assassin that came after us looked exactly like you?"

Miranda let out a hiss of discomfort, feeling the salve finally do its magic as another flurry of images of the robotic assassin flooded her head.

They shared a face.


	8. Commander Song Shepard

**Chapter 8: Commander Song Shepard  
><strong>_It's obvious my heart beats only for you _

* * *

><p><strong>"O<strong>kay, so this button sets me to auto-pilot right? Right, but then…What does that one do?" Kasumi murmured to herself as she continued to try and get the hang of the ship's controls, her frown deepening each time she made the ship send out a small missile that usually exploded against a stray asteroid in the system they were travelling in.

She cursed again when she pressed another button and was greeted with her head being smacked against the glass of the ship, because this day could not get any worse now could it? Nope, now she had to deal with a great big, shiny red spot right in the middle of her forehead – but hey at least Cerberus would have a target to shoot at right?

What she really needed to do was get Miranda to the Citadel straight away to sort out her broken ankle and leg, said leg only being discovered by the ex-Cerberus agent the moment Miranda had tried to get out of her military cot and instead found herself face down on the floor with a groan of complete agony escaping her.

The thief had then pretty much had to deal with it as much as she possibly could and it had taken numbing Miranda as much as she could with alcohol before Kasumi finally pushed the bones back into the correct place, it had caused Miranda to curse loudly and colourfully enough that for a moment Kasumi had been almost afraid of the loyalist.

Kasumi pretty much knew that it would take at least a few hours to get to the mass relay that would take them to the Serpent Nebula but at the rate she was going to try to get the controls into gear it would most likely take longer, if only she had actually listened to Joker when he had tried to explain to Shepard and herself the long, boring ways of handling a bigger ship like the Normandy and not tinier models like the Hammerhead.

"Why didn't I listen?" Kasumi grumbled to herself, resting her chin in the very palm of her hand as she lazily flicked her fingers over a few more switches until she heard the synthesized voice of the ship's VI addressing her with the coordinates she had punched in to send them back to the Citadel.

The thief knew very well Miranda would not approve of them going back to the Citadel just to get professional advice off a nurse but right now Kasumi couldn't find it in herself to care about Miranda's opinion for now, no she was far too worried about the disastrous events of Earth that she had left behind with not even a second glance.

At the memory of seeing those cannibal-like creatures drag a poor woman off on the opposite side of the street would forever haunt Kasumi to this very day, mostly because she hadn't done anything to stop it; no instead she had merely halted and watched in horror that had frozen her stiff before entering Big Ben with her mind determined on nothing else but the safety of Miranda Lawson.

It still did not help the guilt that she had not even tried to stop it, and with that thought Kasumi cupped her chin in one hand whilst covering her eyes with the other to let out a large sigh that made her whole body shake.

She sort of wished she didn't have enough time to worry about what the hell was happening back on Earth, it would spare her some pain at least and it would distract her from thinking about her parents back in Taito, Japan, who of course would have no idea what was going on, what the Reapers were because Kasumi hadn't had the time to go visit them since she had met Shepard and the rest of the Normandy crew.

But honestly, what could she have told them anyhow when it came to the Reapers? _"Oh hey mom, hey dad, sorry not coming to see you for almost a year I've been really busy with planning heists, trying my hardest to get over Keiji (I even think it's working, it __must be if I used to fancy the Commander who will hopefully kick Reaper ass) and then joining a crew of (excuse me) psychopaths, yeah, sorry!"  
><em>_  
><em>She knew very well what her mother would have said: _"You see this is why you should have become a dentist like me and your father Kasumi or join the army PROPERLY like your brother Rohan, at least then you would be PREPARED for this sort of thing like giant machines falling out the sky!"  
><em>_  
><em>Or her father, who would be even worse: _"I told you once, I told you twice and you disobeyed me! This is why I did not like that Keiji you brought home, he was too sly for you and now look what your job is! Being a criminal!  
><em>_  
><em>At least Rohan wouldn't comment on anything too harshly, no he would probably ask her if he met any nice girls he could chat up because being a soldier made it 'hard' for him to get any social interaction with girls anymore – which was a plain lie, Kasumi personally thought it was because he was just too ugly for anyone to hit on him. A sign of her sisterly love of course.

Knowing him he would probably take a liking to Miranda, mostly due to the fact that even when they had been younger Rohan had liked anything and everything Kasumi had so it seemed to be a given fact he would most likely take a fondness to the ex-Cerberus agent; not that she would stop him, no all he had to worry about was Shepard ever finding…

What was she even talking about? How could she possibly think that Rohan and her parents had survived the Reaper incursion? But wasn't that was what she was all about? Positivity! Besides, she couldn't be sad right now, couldn't even think of possibly being sad with Miranda who looked as weak as a kitten right now beside her.

With a small smile Kasumi glanced over at the sleeping figure in the chair next to her, reaching over to grab a corner of the blanket she had draped over the brunette woman to tug it up further so that it covered Miranda's chin; anything to make sure the other woman felt a bit more warmth, anything to make her comfortable.

_'It hasn't really hit her yet,'_ Kasumi realized quietly to herself as she once more flicked another switch in an attempt to get the ship they were in to travel faster, _'she doesn't realize what I've sacrificed to stick with her. Probably doesn't even realize I would do it all again if I had the chance._'

At that Kasumi once again sighed and slouched in her chair, reaching up into her hood to pull the sleeping Izzy from on top of her head to lay back down on her lap with her hand already stroking the downy fur of the yellow cat; just another method to try and calm her nerves so that she would be able to focus.

She didn't quite know what about but anything to stop her from thinking about the monstrosities that was no doubt occurring on Earth as well as many other planets out there, it was a thought Kasumi honestly didn't want to linger on too much and so she decided that it would in fact be best to just keep staring ahead and occasionally spare a glance at the sleeping woman beside her.

However when Kasumi sent another look over towards Miranda she had to stiffen her whole body at the sight of cerulean hues staring back at her, startling her from any other thoughts that she had been thinking of and instead focusing all her attention on the wide-eyed (albeit still a little sleepy) Miranda Lawson.

Resting a hand on her heart Kasumi indulged herself and the other woman with a small smile spread over her face. "You frightened me then! Why didn't you say anything? Poor Izzy probably thinks I'm some sort of jet the way I jumped then."

As if to prove her point the yellow cat jumped off her lap with a hiss and stalked back in the direction of the living quarters that was sectioned near the back of the ship, an amusing antic if nothing else which made Kasumi shake her head in affection for the feline.

A cough brought the thief's attention back onto the brunette beside her, cocking her head at the closed eyes of Miranda with her tongue peeking out slightly to lick the corner of her lip because if there was something Kasumi had to say about the other woman was that whilst most of the time she was a handful, she had her moments when Kasumi could just not take looking at her face due to how…Well, adorable she guessed was the right word, yes, adorable, that was Miranda sometimes.

"Why did you let me fall asleep?" Miranda mumbled with a small yawn escaping past barely opened lips. "I should have been here helping you navigate the ship, not sleeping."

Oh. Kasumi should have expected that really, because gods forbid she did anything right in Miranda's eyes, nope, she was always wrong and that was just fact; and now she was complaining like a spoilt child – brilliant.

"Oh you know, I personally thought it would be nice to let you sleep for a while," Kasumi replied with her hands practically flailing the whole conversation away from them in such a flippant manner it surprised her that Miranda didn't immediately retort in anger. "Silly me I know, but there's also the fact that some rest wouldn't hurt you at all considering your condition."

Miranda's lip curled in distaste at the gesture towards her leg. "Stop babying me Kasumi, it'll heal soon enough that I won't need your help to wobble my way through rooms."

"Oh like _that_will happen soon," Kasumi quipped sharply with her good mood slowly dissipating into annoyance at her companion. "It's why I'm taking you to the Citadel, it's the only place that's not close to Earth where I can distinctly remember a medical centre being present."

"The Citadel?! Of all the places to take me, a wanted ex-Cerberus agent, you take me to the Citadel where there are still assassins there waiting for me?" Miranda complained, ripping the blanket off herself and readjusting herself in her chair so she could direct her glare more fully at Kasumi. "Turn back around; we need to get to Omega as soon as possible otherwise Travis could have already left."

Kasumi bit her lip, it was hard to get worked up usually when it came to Miranda because most of the time she had just put up with the other woman's ridiculous self, but right now? It was starting to get a little wearisome at how little the brunette next to her seemed to care about what was occurring right now, outside of her little bubble and to be honest it was getting harder and harder for Kasumi to hold back.

Normally she would have been able to take Miranda on, to tease the other woman into a silence that was both easy yet awkward; however with her feeling like this all she could see herself doing was eventually losing her temper.

"We're going to the Citadel for a check up on your leg," Kasumi ground out between her teeth, forcing her usual happy go lucky grin on her face that she knew would irritate the hell out of Miranda when she caught sight of it. "Then we can get the hell out of the Citadel and head to Omega, is that okay with you _honey?_"

Miranda's eyes narrowed at her and for a split second Kasumi had a feeling Miranda was going to reach out and use her biotics to pummel her to death; yet she was only a little right because instead of doing anything close to trying to hit her all Miranda did was settle back on her chair and glare out into space as though she had been scolded – an act that did genuinely make Kasumi smirk a little at another battle she was victorious in.

Just when Kasumi had thought she would be able to relax in a little peace and quiet she was rewarded with Miranda's voice.

"You think I'm self-absorbed with finding Oriana don't you?"

It was at times like these that Kasumi found herself not knowing what to say to the other woman about anything, mostly because Miranda had the most inane way of knowing what she was thinking sometimes and constantly seemed to voice it.

"The truth is this: I need to find my sister because without her I don't have anything else worth fighting for against the Reapers," yet when Kasumi turned to look at the ice queen she was greeted with Miranda still staring out into space, her face an expressionless mask. "That's the cold, hard truth about it Kasumi. I'm not dropping everything for Oriana because I'm ignoring everything else that's happening out there, that's not even close to what I'm doing."

Kasumi remained deathly still and silent, refusing to look anywhere else but at the woman sat next to her, desperately searching for a moment of weakness that the thief knew Miranda did consist of (sometimes) so that Kasumi would be able to exploit it in a way that would allow Miranda to drop her barriers for a damn second and let her help; but if she was honest she knew very well that any chance of that happening was below 1%.

"I just need to find my sister, or what's the point of even trying? I need something worth fighting for and that's Oriana," cerulean orbs finally moved away from the depths of space to stare straight at Kasumi, almost feeling as though they would soon pierce the thief's soul. "I don't expect you to understand me, but don't question why I am the way I am…"

"I do understand you," Kasumi interrupted and the tone of voice that escaped her own mouth shocks her for a flicker of a second before she cannot help but keep talking. "I understand that you love your sister very much and that without her in your life there's now no point in it, I get that more than you would realize."

Miranda opened her mouth to speak but the thief waved her off, the gesture being the cause of why the taller woman's mouth suddenly closed.

"But you're wrong," Kasumi insisted, eyes narrowed with a ferocity that struck Miranda into silence without the thief even connecting with the other woman physically. "It must have been strange, fitting Oriana into your life after the years you've spent without her and then growing attached just to have her ripped from you again, I get that. I have a sibling too y'know? It's not as bad as being separated from him as it is you and Oriana because you're twins - and there's always something about twins isn't there? – But it still hurts like hell knowing he is out there and not knowing if his dead or not."

Miranda's eyes had narrowed too although Kasumi assumed silently that it was with understanding, or so she hoped at the very least; but what shocked the thief the most was how Miranda had kept quiet for so long, no angry retorts or sardonic comments – just pure, utter silence.

"But just think of it this way; there's people out there who you care about just as much as Oriana right? I mean, Shepard for one," though by the way Miranda winced as if in pain could only mean Kasumi had said the wrong thing; still she ignored it and continued. "And Jacob must care about you too right? And some of your associates need you in…"

The thief allowed herself to trail off at the realization that truth be told it was quite obvious Miranda didn't have many friends, she wasn't exactly Miss Popularity that was for sure and back on the Normandy the only people Miranda had ever socialized with properly was herself, Shepard and Jacob; the others had politely decided to stay out of Miranda's way as most either didn't like her or trust her.

Miranda looked like she had finally caught on with what Kasumi was thinking and huffed in irritation, finally moving away from staring at Kasumi to once more glare out into space; said glare unknowingly shoving Kasumi back to the starting position of the game known as Miranda Lawson.

"I appreciate what you're trying to say," Miranda muttered with eyes that looked the complete opposite of what was escaping from her lips. "But keep your sympathies; I know what I need to do and that's all that matters right now. We're partners, not friends."

Kasumi knew at that moment that all the progress she had made with Miranda had now been shoved back right to the very start; to square 1 – a place Kasumi had desperately not wanted to be in again after coming so far.

She hadn't even gotten around to asking Miranda more about the assassin that she shared a face with, but from the way Miranda was scowling now it seemed that topic had to wait for another time.

The temper that she had kept a lid on for so long was slowly starting to spill over the edge and with a grumble Kasumi pushed herself up from her chair, giving Miranda a quick look-over before she departed the room to find Izzy.

"I'm sorry about your family."

Kasumi froze on the spot, her insides tightening and her throat feeling more and drier as she jerked her head back to see that Miranda was looking at her also, surprisingly without the usual look of aloofness that she usually showed.

The hidden affection that was within the older woman's sentence caused Kasumi to let out a noisy breath, eyes softening as they examined each and every contour of Miranda's face with the anger that had been slowly gnawing at her now disappearing into something that felt a lot like pity.

And just like that, Kasumi had no idea what to say apart from: "how can you be so cold and callous one minute and then soft and kind the next?" before she walked towards the back of the ship, the pity for Miranda Lawson intensifying each step she took.

* * *

><p><strong>T<strong>hey didn't speak at all when the _Black Wand_landed on the Citadel's docking ports, Miranda too tight-lipped to say anything and Kasumi just didn't know if saying anything would make the tension between them worse or better – it was a risk she was not at all willing to take.

What made it worse was how Kasumi actually had to press her side against Miranda's own as they both hobbled off the ship with Izzy at their heels, the cat's jerky movements causing them both to hurry along down the ramp until they reached a corridor that would take them the waiting area where many civilians were being kept there.

Kasumi tried her damned hardest not to meet Miranda's eyes but at each wince that managed to escape from the loyalist's mouth she couldn't help but not look, hand tightening possessively on the other woman's waist to try and balance her as they hobbled through the docks to the waiting area; the whole gesture of her doing this for Miranda was all about fighting the darker part of herself that wished she could run away from Miranda and her damn responsibility because this wasn't just about her anymore.

It wasn't even all about Shepard or Oriana either, no the horrible truth of the matter was that Kasumi was doing all this for Miranda whether the older woman liked it or not.

The worst part was that she had no idea why; it hadn't been like the other woman had literally rolled out the welcome wagon for her now was it? And still, here she stood next to Miranda's side.

She was quite sure her younger self would have called her an idiot for putting up with whatever Miranda threw at her, would also probably demand that she actually grow some metaphorical balls and leave Miranda to grovel because if she didn't want any help then fine – but that would have been a time when she was more naïve, before she had lost someone as precious as Keiji.

Maybe she was still an idiot and had gone senile in her oh so old age of 26? Perhaps, would explain the strange attachment she had to Izzy anyway.

"Pay attention to where you're going," Miranda snapped at her, breaking the thief away from her thoughts as they once again managed to skim past an elderly turian and his family that had just passed them.

Kasumi rolled her eyes at the command whilst she wondered to herself how she could throw Miranda off the platform while making it look like an accident; alas, it didn't seem likely what with about 15 C-Sec guards watching her like a hawk.

They turned a corner and immediately Kasumi halted at whom she saw coming out of the elevator.

Blondes spikes now back into business on top of a wild crop of shorter yellow curls, wild blue eyes still bright and vibrant and the all too familiar smile of Commander Shepard greeted them both as they halted to a standstill; Kasumi still too shocked to say anything and Miranda too busy trying to fight down the overwhelming feelings that were threatening to burst from out of her.

Those azure hues only glanced up once before they locked on the hazelnut orbs for a flicker of a moment before shifting over to cerulean eyes that clashed fiercely against the azure waves; it was a matter of conflicting emotions and when Kasumi looked up at the shared gaze between Miranda and Shepard she felt (rather quickly too) like an outsider upon this reunion.

It left her not knowing what to do and so she waited for something to happen, for either Shepard or Miranda to make a move because she just couldn't; she was stuck and there was nothing she could do about it.

Luckily for Kasumi she didn't have to as in a matter of moments Shepard had started at a jog towards them, her smile that had been stuck between genuine and faked now fully sincere in a way that the thief immediately knew what it was and smiled back at the blonde commander, one arm still wrapped fiercely around Miranda's waist whilst the other was now stretched outwards towards Shepard.

It took a mere moment before Shepard had crushed into Kasumi's side with her arms wrapped around both the thief and the loyalist, her laughter still escaping from her lips as she looked up to see them both with playful eyes full of such happiness to see them that inside Kasumi could feel herself start to melt.

"Of all the people I thought I would see once I came to the Citadel," Shepard started with her eyes giving them a look-over once more. "You two would be nowhere near on my list, I thought you were both in Bekenstein?"

Kasumi looked at Miranda at that, pretty sure that she had something to do with the fact that Shepard had thought they were in a different place entirely than the location she had sent to the Normandy once she had managed to get access with EDI and Joker.

Miranda merely raised a delicately shaped eyebrow at her. "It was just a few mismatched rumours I sent out to cover our tracks, we couldn't risk being found now could we?"

"It wasn't very good rumours though were they? Look at your leg!" Kasumi pointed out with a smile that was just as fierce and intimidating as Miranda's glare that she sent out at the thief once the words had passed her lips.

Shepard pulled back from them both to glance down at Miranda's leg with wide eyes. "Bloody hell Miranda, how the hell did that happen?"

Miranda rolled her eyes but the affection in them was unmistakable and sent a sharp pang to Kasumi's chest; it didn't look like anything Miranda had ever shot at her or anyone had shot at her ever and for some reason that thought hurt more than it should have.

"I don't know what to be surprised at, the fact that you didn't realize I had a broken leg before Kasumi pointed it out or the fact that I might actually consider being surprised that…- put me down this instance!"

Kasumi had laughed the moment Shepard had grown tired of Miranda speaking and had put a halt to it by picking the woman up and cradling her like a child, pressing a kiss to the scowling Miranda's nose before laughing evilly in the woman's face.

"I am not a damsel for you to manhandle, put me down!" Miranda ordered with a glower, her cheeks just starting to tinge pink slightly at how everyone seemed to be now looking at the saviour of the galaxy cuddle affectionately with another woman.

"I didn't even notice your broken leg because I was just too over the moon in seeing you again!" Shepard told Miranda cheerily, gesturing for Kasumi to follow with a tilt of her head towards the direction of the elevator. "I missed you terribly back in Vancouver, every day I thought about you."

"Hey!" Kasumi protested with a teasing laugh, picking Izzy up from behind her and cradling him in her own arms to skip past the Commander with her brown eyes fixed on the surprised look on Shepard's face. "What about me? I'm special too y'know?"

Shepard grinned at her for a split second before she burst out laughing, elbowing the controls of the elevator to open the doors before stepping inside. "Course I missed you, why wouldn't I?"

"I don't want to be kept in Huerta, Shepard," Miranda interrupted them both, gripping down hard on Shepard's shoulder to lower herself down from Shepard's arms so that she could loop her arm back around Kasumi's back for balance. "I've got too much to tell you right now but I can't stay on the Citadel for long, I can't let my name even get processed through the Citadel."

Shepard frowned before a small smirk appeared on her face. "Your wild drunken nights haven't been handled well with Citadel security?"

Kasumi hid a smile behind a cough, oh humour, she had missed it so eagerly when she had been alone with Miranda, especially Shepard's wacky humour, so it was good to finally be prone to it again.

It was quite obvious before Kasumi had even looked over that Miranda's reaction would have been a far cry from her own, which was why seeing Miranda's scowl didn't trigger any other response from the thief but another stifled laugh.

"I see your humour is still as inappropriate as it usually is," Miranda murmured with a glance towards Kasumi, meeting her humoured gaze with a click of her tongue before returning back to Shepard. "I'll have you know I've been running non-stop since I quit Cerberus."

"Don't you think I know that?" Shepard retorted and from the tortured look on her face Kasumi had a feeling that Shepard probably hadn't stopped thinking about Miranda running the very moment she had been locked inside that Alliance base. "Despite what the Alliance thinks I've kept an eye on you as much as I've been able to, it's the benefits of having a master thief stealing your girlfriend's tech."

Kasumi didn't hold back her laughter in this time, although she did shy away from the annoyed look Miranda sent her because Miranda just seemed to have the ability of making her feel awful at times.

"And not telling me where it's gone either," Miranda whispered with her eyes focused solely on Kasumi this time, causing the thief to sheepishly smile in reply. "But that's going off the point; let's be serious…"

"Kasumi," Shepard called out to the thief, interrupting Miranda mid-talk with an apologetic look before she turned her full attention onto her friend. "Do you mind if I and Miranda go up to Huerta by ourselves to talk? It's urgent."

Kasumi arched a brow at Shepard, if she was truly honest with herself then yes she did mind actually but then suppose it had something to do with the two's relationship and she was unintentionally in the way? Yes, that would most certainly explain why Shepard didn't want her there at the moment.

Still, could have used that information a bit earlier and she did still want to talk to Shepard later on even if Shepard herself didn't have the time; she was just _that_desperate to see her old friend.

So Kasumi nodded like the good friend she was, even put on a smile that she didn't quite know would look realistic enough and shrugged. "Sure thing, me and Izzy will just be walking around the Citadel for a while anyways. We have some unfinished business to handle."

Miranda looked at her sceptically. "Unfinished business?"

However before Kasumi could find it in her to answer the elevator came to a halt at Huerta Hospital and the doors opened, giving entrance to a few asari and a turian whom moved out the way at seeing the wobbly Miranda hanging onto the thief's side.

With a grunt Miranda quickly changed her arm to fasten around Shepard's shoulders whilst the blonde Commander held her waist before they both hobbled out the elevator; Shepard looking back at her to say one last thing before the doors closed.

"Thanks for being there for her Kas!"

Kasumi didn't feel like she had any choice but to smile back with a wave goodbye, waiting until the doors finally closed on the elevator before she cloaked herself and Izzy away from any more prying eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>"S<strong>ay I had broken a leg and I need some crutches," Shepard started with the most innocent tone she could muster, hands entwined behind her back just to help set the whole innocent image off. "Where do you think they would be left in this hospital?"

Chakwas had been just about to leave to board the Normandy like Shepard had told her to when she had been stopped by her Commander again, this time looking far more cheerful than she had been before going to see Ashley Williams; perhaps the sight of her old squad mate had cheered Song Shepard up more than she realized?

Chakwas looked down at Shepard's unbroken legs, her lips quirked into a smile. "Shepard you don't have a broken leg nor any fractured bones otherwise you wouldn't be standing."

"Ah yes, but I'm speaking theoretically!" Shepard told Chakwas with her own smile, though Chakwas would have to be an idiot to fall for such charm despite knowing that in the end yes, she would probably cave to this woman's demands. "So theoretically speaking, crutches? Where would you keep them?"

Chakwas shook her head as realization dawned on her on a theory that could possibly be the reason why Shepard was acting so strange like this: "Commander take me to the patient once I've gone to fetch the crutches, it won't do your friend any good not to have medical advice before they so urgently dash away."

The doctor hid her smug grin behind her hand at the sight of her Commander's look of shock that had spread over her face, "how come you can read me so easily?"

"Practice Commander," Chakwas said with a shrug. "Just lots and lots of practice, that and the fact you are one of the many special people I know who wears their emotions on their sleeves."

Shepard watched her go with a smirk before she turned back around to head towards where Miranda sat in the darkest corner Shepard had found to drop the ex-Cerberus agent in, giving the dark-haired woman a quick thumbs up before taking a seat next to her with her eyes focused intently on the curve of Miranda's jaw.

Miranda noticed of course (when did she not notice Shepard staring at her?) but chose not to comment on it, instead turning her head so that Shepard had no choice but to get lost in the ice cold depths of her lover's eyes; the sight once again startling her at how such cold eyes could bring so much warmth and affection at the very pit of Shepard's stomach.

"Going to explain to me how you got into this mess?" Shepard asked in a whisper that was as hard as rock, the hardest tone she had ever used when it came to Miranda and it was all because she was just so fucking worried. "You haven't been eating Miranda, I can tell by just looking at you and I know Kasumi wouldn't have stood for this either but she's just too damn nice to do much about it, so tell me what's wrong."

Miranda scoffed but the way her cheeks looked close to flushing told Shepard all she needed to know – Miranda was flustered at the mention of her poor health, had always been told she was perfect health-wise (apart from the obvious) and now Shepard had just thrown that aside like an old rag doll.

"I've already told you this Shepard once Kasumi left," Miranda murmured back in an equally low and hard tone as the one Shepard had used, however the only difference was that by each word that escaped her lips the gravelly tone was soon starting to change into a hiss. "I'm looking for Oriana and I have a reason to believe Cerberus had something to do with her disappearance, the last lead was to Omega which is where I'll be heading, _alone_, to see if I can pick anything up – that has been my main priority Song and you know it."

Shepard sighed at that, looking away from her lover to stare out of the Huerta Hospital windows at the Presidium, using anything she deemed necessary to try and clear her head from anything and everything; it was a tactic that would not work in the end but to be honest Shepard had no idea what else to do.

With a slight murmur falling from her lips Shepard ran her hands through her spiked locks, turning back to face Miranda with a frown on her face. "And neglecting sleep and food is going to help you find Oriana is it? This isn't _you_Miranda, you're smarter than this."

Miranda's eyes flashed dangerously and Shepard knew she had said the wrong thing. "Don't assume you know me better than I know myself Shepard, I know my limits well enough and I can assure you that I would neglect absolutely anything to find my sister; anything, even _you_."

Shepard had expected Miranda to say something like that because it was a very Miranda thing to say, because despite everything that had passed between them, the love they shared, it was very Miranda indeed to push everything aside for family and Shepard couldn't blame her really because if she had a family to remember she was pretty sure she would do anything to find them too.

And even with Miranda staring at her like she had just spat on her shoes Shepard can't help but feel the overwhelming amount of affection for the loyalist wash all over her, she just cannot help herself and honestly she should not feel this way considering what Miranda just said and the anger within her eyes, but she…

She loves Miranda, at times, too much.

"Are you still angry about the way I left?" Shepard asked before she could stop herself, reaching over as calmly as she could to rest her hand on Miranda's, squeezing tightly to prevent the ex-Cerberus agent from moving away. "Because I'm sorry, I didn't mean, I just…I had a lot to think about when I was being kept with the Alliance."

From the way Miranda's eyebrows press together maybe it had not been such a good idea to mention it but it's too late to back down now, perhaps it would be better to just let Miranda get everything out in hope the impact would not be too…

"I think you've more than made up for the fact you didn't say goodbye properly," Miranda interrupted Shepard's thoughts, giving her a meaningful look that made Shepard feel the familiar warmth at the very bottom of her stomach that appeared every time Miranda was near. "Kasumi's been…"

Shepard laughed and intervened before Miranda could finish: "A handful? Because I warned her to keep some of it in when I contacted her because I know how she gets and I know how _you _get."

What surprised Shepard next was how Miranda moved her hand from under hers and let out a small chuckle, it was such a differing reaction that it made Shepard pause and cock her head to the side to watch the other woman with earnest.

"Kasumi has been," azure orbs narrowed curiously as Miranda wrung her hands together, staring off into space with her lips moving in an effortless manner as if the loyalist was still trying to find words to describe what she wanted to say, "well, a complete annoyance at times, but otherwise she's rather useful, thank you for sending her my way."

Shepard grinned at her lover, inwardly congratulating herself and Kasumi on a job well done to both herself and Kasumi for not dying from Miranda's wrath. "Well that's good, more than good, but wait, you said you were going to Omega alone? Why? You've got Kasumi haven't you?"

"You said you sent her to protect me until you got out Alliance HQ and here you are," Miranda said with an amused quirk of her brow. "I have no doubts that once I tell her you said she can leave she'll go back to…whatever she does."

"But you need Kasumi's help, more than ever now considering your current condition!" Shepard protested with a shake of head, unable to believe Miranda and her distinct ability of looking at everything the wrong way at the complete wrong time, "and to go to Omega of all places? You do know that Reaper forces have invaded there already? Earth was one of the surprisingly later places to get hit whereas Omega was one of the first; do you really want to risk your life as you are now just to be chasing a rumour?"

By the way Miranda's eyes widened it seemed as though the other woman hadn't known about Omega's demise and was now working her brain furiously at a way to try and sort through various other plans, overall it was not very convincing and it caused Shepard to once more let a sigh escape her.

"Just look at how you are Miranda right this moment, do you really think it's a good idea to go chasing after Oriana with no bloody insight on where to go?" Shepard asked again, her angry tone causing her British accent to become more and more pronounced, "just think about it for a second, Cerberus is chasing you and has Oriana, they want you to come after her and are laying down a trap for you to waltz right into! I'm not saying you just leave your sister, but don't go walking into a trap you aren't prepared for."

Miranda turned her face then to look at her, truly look at her as though she had never looked at Shepard properly before until now and for once truly appreciated the words coming out of her mouth, it wouldn't have been the first time but to Shepard it most certainly felt like the first time despite everything that had happened between them.

"If you had learned that myself or Kasumi had been taken by Cerberus wouldn't you be doing the same thing?" Miranda asked with a tone of voice Shepard couldn't quite put her finger on to describe; whatever it was, it was far from comforting. "If the Reapers weren't out there, if Cerberus was the only thing everyone was running from?"

"I wouldn't stop searching until I found you both," Shepard responded instinctively, her usual contagious smile now dropping to a grimace. "Fine, I get where you're coming from. But for god's sake Miranda if you don't…Just be bloody careful alright?"

From the way Miranda smiled it seemed like she had just won a victorious battle and Shepard knew she had just walked into it really and she had nobody else to blame but herself, but for crying out loud if Miranda did anything stupid and got herself killed then she would never forgive herself.

"I can't promise that Shepard, not with Oriana's life at stake," Miranda said, "can you promise me that you'll be careful?"

Shepard shook her head; no, she could never promise that, not whilst she still had breath in her body.

"Then don't expect that promise from me," Miranda paused and by the twitch of her left hand Shepard could tell the loyalist was working herself up to say something that could have the effect of changing quite a few things about them. "I had wanted to ask you before but it didn't seem appropriate, but are we still the same as before? As we were back on the Normandy?"

Shepard froze on the spot and from the look in Miranda's eyes it seemed as though she felt the same as her, ever since she had been stationed back at Alliance HQ she had done nothing but think; about the Reapers, about her charges, about the Normandy, about Miranda, about them and because of all that thinking she had come to a solid conclusion.

"I think what we both need now is to focus on our objectives," Shepard replied quietly with her eyes cast downwards to stare at her feet, hands wrung together tightly to shake off the guilt that she felt. "Too much is at stake right now and I…I need to focus on this war with the Reapers."

Shepard didn't look up when she heard a sharp intake of breath, not willing to risk the sight of Miranda being just as upset as she was and trying to collect herself because if she did look then she had a feeling she would just about burst into tears.

After a long silence Miranda finally spoke. "I see, well, I'm glad we agree on the fact we both have a lot of things to figure out; thank you for telling me."

The blonde gulped at how sharp that last statement sounded and moved her head to the side to stare once more out at Presidium, once again not trusting herself to look anywhere near Miranda. "Don't think this doesn't mean I don't love you Miranda, because I'll always love you regardless of what happens to us, but right now is not the time."

"There's still a lot of things I need to tell you," Miranda said after a moment or two, breaking away from the subject just like Shepard had expected her to and instead diverting it to a place where the ex-Cerberus agent felt more secure. "But that's for another time and I'll send you most of it through my omni-tool, right now I'd like to just be left alone for a while. I need to think."

The commander knew that was not the true reason but she also knew Miranda well enough that she wanted to be left alone for a good reason, and that was more than enough reason for her to leave her old lover alone.

Shepard got up from her seat with every intention of leaving Miranda alone for a few moments to go see where Chakwas was and then come back, it was the only thing she could do without offending Miranda enough that the woman would try and hobble away on her own; and Shepard knew she would try.

She was just that stubborn.

* * *

><p><strong>"<strong>**C'**mon Izzy let's get going," Kasumi declared to her feline companion with a tired yawn escaping her, stretching briefly before leaving the volus accountants with a mock salute that made one wave his fist angrily at her in response. "Quick before they send the mob out with the pitch fork and torches!"

With a brief chuckle Kasumi cloaked herself and started a light jog back down the Citadel corridors to where the Black Wand awaited her at the docks, casting one more look at the irritated accountants before getting into a thankfully deserted elevator and bursting out into laughter.

Sure she had just messed up the details of a thousand of bank accounts by accident but damn that didn't mean she wasn't going to have a good laugh about it, hell she would laugh regardless considering how painfully long it would take those poor volus workers to put everything back into shape again.

That and try their hardest to look up the name Miranda Lawpick in a desperate search to find those GUI enhancers, but hey, all in a job's work right?

Just when she was about to get out of the elevator Kasumi froze at the sight of the salarian making his way inside, heart stopping and eyes widening as none other than Jondum Bau stepped inside and got so close that he was merely a breath away from her.

Kasumi held in her breath as best as she could as she inched past the salarian as quickly and quietly as she could, moving around Jondum to tip-toe backwards out of the elevator with a sigh of relief escaping her the very moment the elevator doors closed.

That was too close for her to handle and with another gasp Kasumi fled towards the Black Wand at a pace she would name inhuman just due to the fact she hadn't really ran this fast since the Collector ship.

When she was safely inside the Black Wand's hull Kasumi de-cloaked, placed Izzy down back on the floor and went to go sit at the controls, or that was what she would have been doing if none other than Miranda Lawson was not sitting there.

"Hey when did you get back here?" Kasumi asked as cheerfully as she could, choosing not to remember the negative conversation they had had previously and instead seating herself next to the operative so they could communicate better. "And where's Shep? Did she leave without saying goodbye to me? I swear on everything holy if she has…"

Kasumi cut herself off at the look on Miranda's face and very subtly glanced down at the loyalist's leg before she looked back up, her once cheerful smile now set into a morose frown. "You okay? Did the doctors say something bad about your leg? Because I'm sure it can't be that bad as they make it out to be…"

"It's fine, they said give it around a month to heal," Miranda finally spoke, shocking Kasumi into a momentary silence at how hoarse the other woman sounded, almost as if she had been shouting for so long and it was finally getting the better of her.

"Isn't that a good thing? Shouldn't you be happy about this turn of events?" Kasumi kept asking in what she honestly did hope was a fairly neutral tone because one wrong word then she would be even further away from square 1.

"A month is too long," Miranda turned her face to the side to look at the thief fully and her mouth was pulled into a pained grimace that didn't sit well with Kasumi whatsoever. "Shouldn't you be long gone right now? Doing whatever you usually do when you aren't accompanying me?"

The thief crossed her arms and leaned back further into her chair at the other woman's statement. "Why would I be anywhere but with you?"

And that was the moment when something strange happened, strange as in Kasumi didn't quite understand what was going on but felt oddly euphoric about it; mostly because at the very moment those words had left her lips she was greeted with the sight of Miranda Lawson's eyes doing something that could only be described as…softening.

_'I'm getting to you Miranda Lawson,'_ Kasumi mused to herself with a genuinely happy smile on her face_, 'looks like this square 1 box is going to get departed from very soon thank you very much.'  
><em>_  
><em>"I thought I had driven you off," Miranda murmured with her eyes moving forwards to look out at the moving ships of the Citadel, obviously another defence mechanism to keep Kasumi from finding out anything meaningful from her expression. "But you're still here, after everything. Shepard told me to tell you that you could go, you don't have to follow me anymore and yet here you are, still standing right here."

So that was what it was all about was it? Had it truly come to the point that so many people had left Miranda that she had grown used to it and even encouraged it? Well for once, Kasumi decided, she was going to prove Miranda wrong.

"As I said before, why would I be anywhere else but with you?" Kasumi told the ex-Cerberus operative, cocking her head to the side and grinning. "Besides, you take me to all the dangerous places that often end up with me pulling bullets out of myself; what more could a girl want?"

It was silent after that and for a horrible second Kasumi thought she had said the wrong thing, however that was soon eradicated from her mind when Miranda flicked a few switches and the engine of the ship started to roar into life.

"Still set on Omega?" Kasumi asked with her eyes also set ahead to maintain the conversation between them both without descending into anything close to being awkward. "I mean, no plan and all, but still set?"

"Who said I didn't have a plan?" Miranda argued briefly, using her crutches to pull herself up more comfortably in her chair. "I have a plan alright and if that device we used before is correct then we'll be able to catch Travis without even having to go to Omega."

Intrigued Kasumi glanced at the loyalist up and over, briefly catching sight of what looked like to be crumbled up tissue paper in Miranda's hand as the other woman moved her arm upwards once more to press a few more buttons as the hanger doors of the Citadel opened.

It was a very odd sight, seeing Miranda with tissue paper because Kasumi now had an idea why Shepard had left once she added one and one together and well, perhaps it would not be the right time to say anything about it right now considering Miranda had apparently gotten upset enough to cry over it, but that didn't mean she couldn't, she couldn't…

"You're amazing honey," Kasumi complimented the brunette next to her with a squeeze of her shoulder that she immediately retracted in case Miranda decided she did not appreciate her touch whatsoever.

Instead Miranda actually chuckled, actually laughed at something she, Kasumi Goto, had said! Miracles apparently did happen!

"You haven't heard my plan yet."

"It doesn't matter, it's going to be amazing."

* * *

><p><em>holy crap this chapter was so freaking long and I'm not surprised if you don't even read it because it's just that long.<br>Enjoy wonderful reviewers, please let me know what you think. :)_


	9. One Step At a Time

**Chapter 9: Step at a Time  
><strong>_"You're wrong. I do have someone to turn to - she's called Kasumi Goto."_

* * *

><p><strong>M<strong>iranda watched silently as the thief mulled over the plan she had written up for Kasumi to look at, eyes narrowing slightly whenever the other woman shot her a side-eyed look in a silent challenge that left the thief shaking her head and quickly changing the direction where she looked; it was all just another game that Miranda did not wish to play, a game of…awkwardness.

Miranda hadn't exactly been the most comfortable person to talk to, that she herself would admit, but that did not mean she would go out of her way just to offend Kasumi with her words; no, that would be uncalled for and it was something that would be very out of character for her.

And now she was what? She was actually feeling guilty for causing the thief to become so distant from her? This was ridiculous, yet it was the only thing Miranda could think of to suggest why she felt this disquiet deep at the pit of her stomach, as if the little happiness she felt had been sucked out of her.

"So…" Kasumi startled her out of her thoughts and with much hesitation Miranda removed her gaze away from the endless space in front of her to stare questioningly at the thief. "From the plan you've drafted out it says we might be able to intercept Travis in the Omega Nebula system at Lorek? But you haven't said how you've come to this conclusion; from where I'm sitting this is all guesswork."

Miranda sighed impatiently, snatching the draft away from the thief's hand and uploading the parchment's data herself and Kasumi had used before up onto her data-pad. "Because of the parchment we recovered in the docks we now have every single dock in the galaxy under our noses, _because_ of that particular tidbit, it also means we can tell whenever a certain ship has left the port."

From the way Kasumi smiled it seemed that whatever Miranda had said had finally sank in, good, she was getting tired of having to explain this plan considering how much planning the damn thing whilst in a state of hopeless had done nothing but give her a ridiculously large headache.

"Cerberus tech is so damned brilliant when it's not used to killing people," Kasumi said in an almost revenant whisper, mockingly wiping at her eyes with a finger. "I would even go as far as to say it's beautiful, _oh_, I'm welling up."

"Control yourself please," Miranda muttered with a roll of her eyes, taking the finished data-pad away from her and presenting it to the thief. "It says the SUV Hawke departed from Omega's docking port two hours ago; if I am right then Travis will go to Lorek as it his trading post outside of Omega."

A chuckle escaped from the thief, "and on the off-set chance you're wrong Ms Lawson?"

"I'm never wrong," Miranda said as evenly as she could, supressing a smile when in return Kasumi just shook her head at her in disbelief. "But on the off-set chance that I am? Then we'll have to wait until he docks again."

"_If_ he docks again," Kasumi said with a small smile, raising her brow at Miranda when the other woman glanced at her with a frown. "You never know, his ship could have got blown up whilst leaving Omega, because Shep said that the Reapers hit there first, right?"

Miranda refused to let the surprise settle on her face, instead tightening her expression into a hard grimace and gripping down harder onto her crutches as she resettled herself back in her chair; furious at herself for not actually thinking her plan through as well as she would have before – she most certainly did not usually make these sort of obvious mistakes.

"If it comes to that then I'll have to call in a few favours on the Citadel, that or go my warehouse on Trident and see if Ish is still around," Miranda told the thief with a stiff nod of her head, not quite willing to give much more information out about Trident even after she had accidently let it slip out. "He owes me so he'll most likely still be there, but if not then I'll just have to try and locate the cargo records of each ship and see if there's anything suspicious – human cargo for example."

"But what about if it's just slave traders?" Kasumi questioned and this time her tone had taken the change of being somewhat sceptical, like she didn't quite believe what she was hearing. "That'll just send us running around in circles until we have the right one, it'll take us forever."

Miranda paused her own thoughts, rewinding back to all those times she had said the words _'I'm never wrong'_ and then fast-forwarding back to the present at such an alarming rate she was surprised her brain hadn't knocked against her skull; mostly due to the fact she had not thought about slavers, had not thought about anything like that until the thief had said it.

What was _wrong _with her? That answer should have come to her head immediately, she should not have needed Kasumi's input for everything to make sense and yet here Miranda found herself; not knowing what the hell was up with her for missing such an obvious mistake and not correcting herself the moment she realized she had made it.

She cleared her throat, drawing Kasumi's attention back onto her. "Good point, but if that's the case then we'll just have to narrow our search even more, look for things that stand out and are suspicious; like the location of where the cargo is being taken – if its anywhere in the Terminus Systems I assure you that Cerberus will be behind it."

A brief chuckle escaped the thief and when Miranda risked a glance she saw that the other woman had used one of her hands to cover up her laughter, and it surprised Miranda slightly at how endearing the movement was and how much it reminded her of Shepard.

_'No, she's nothing like Shepard,'_ Miranda thought to herself quickly afterwards, wincing slightly at how even the mention of the blonde Commander seemed to make her body curl inwards in discomfort and pain – it made her feel utterly pathetic.

Still, it didn't give Miranda any indication on what was so funny and if she was honest it was actually _somewhat _annoying.

But she refused to comment on it, not giving the thief the satisfaction she obviously wanted and instead refocused her attention back on the open world before her with her mind roaming back onto the subject of Oriana, taunting herself with scenarios that she knew would not be happening anytime soon in the hope that these images would force her forwards with even more determination than before.

Oh who was she kidding? How could she get more determined than she was now? That was right, she could _not_ become more determined even with Kasumi at her side who was of course an irritating idiot at times but most other times she was actually a reliable asset whom…

_Tap. Tap. Tap.  
><em>_  
><em>Kasumi was meddling with her omni-tool again, if that was what banging the thing against the controls was called anyhow; from where Miranda was sitting it looked like the thief just simply wanted to create some noise to entertain herself – well fine, she could handle the immaturity, she had done so before with Shepard and she would be able to do so with Kasumi as well.

_TapTapTapTapTap.  
><em>_  
><em>"Stop doing that will you? I'm trying to think," Miranda muttered in an angry aside to the other woman, eyes narrowed fervently when Kasumi merely poked her tongue out at her. "Oh that's very mature."

Kasumi smirked in reply and even from under the darkness of her hood Miranda can see the other woman wriggle her eyebrows at her smugly, teasing her with a charm that made Miranda shudder at the implication that she was actually getting used to Kasumi when in truth that was the exact opposite of what she needed – no, that wasn't right, she didn't want it either. She didn't.

"I'm hungry, are _you _hungry? Did you eat before we left the Citadel?"

And again her thoughts were interrupted – it was moments like this that Miranda truly wished she was on her own so she could actually concentrate, however one moment of weakness on her part had meant she had allowed Kasumi to stay with not even a bat of an eyelash in protest.

Now Kasumi was babying her like she's a simple child and…

Perhaps she is right to treat her this way, it made sense when Miranda thought hard on it; at least it actually aligned perfectly with how Shepard thought she was handling this whole situation, how it wasn't smart to be this focused on one thing and that she should make sure to focus on herself as well as her objective.

The horrible thing was that Miranda did not know if she could actually do that, did not know if she could actually pull away from her thoughts of Oriana and focus on herself because that felt like some sort of warped treason – despite the obvious fact that if she didn't look after herself then she might as well kiss her chance at finding Oriana goodbye.

It hit her harder than she possibly thought it would, the undeniable fact: she needed Kasumi, probably a lot more than Kasumi needed her and the thief was willing (or so it looked like) to do most things for her because of her current state and there was also the fact Kasumi hadn't needed to stay but had anyway…

She met the thief's eyes for a brief moment, examining the soft look for another second before Miranda allowed herself to look down at the strong jaw the thief had – silently wondering why that of all things was what she chose to notice about Kasumi – until finally she forced a smile, albeit a small one, on her face.

"I haven't eaten since leaving the Citadel no, Shepard got me something on the way back to the docks but apart from that I haven't had…"

"Much time," Kasumi finished for her with a smile Miranda didn't know if she quite approved of, no actually, she was quite sure she did not approve of it. "It's okay, I'll go see if we have anything in rations; you're going to need all the food you can get to try and get you up faster."

Miranda sighed at the mention of her leg and ankle, not needing another reason to remember the blasted thing that was holding her back from doing anything she considered important – it would just hurt to remember it and Miranda had done her fair share of hurting these past couple of months.

Most of the time she had kept it to herself, locking herself away with the excuse she needed to 'work' whereas in reality she needed time to plan out her options and face the spiralling despair that kept surfacing inside her chest every time she closed her eyes; that despair had led to her emotions overfilling which of course led to tears she could not hold back any longer and sobs that she disguised as hacking coughs.

Kasumi was not a fool however, no matter how hard Miranda sometimes thought she was, the thief knew the reason why and respectfully kept her distance from Miranda during those times; though if the ex-Cerberus agent was honest she had a feeling that had something to do with the fact Kasumi just did not know what to say to her.

That was alright, Miranda supposed, if she had been in Kasumi's shoes then she probably would have no idea what to do either; if anything she would probably make the situation even worse without meaning to – or perhaps even more worse, her mouth would run away with her and hard truths would just start to continuously spill out before she could stop them.

Miranda was ripped out from her thoughts by the hand on her shoulder and the ration pack tossed on her lap, looking up to see that the thief had returned to her place in the chair next to her and had already started her mantra on tapping the deck with her omni-tool once more.

"Thank you," Miranda told the thief with a nod of her head and started to unwrap the ration pack carefully, however she stopped when she noticed that the woman opposite to her did not have her own ration pack to consume. "Didn't you say you were hungry? Where's yours?"

The way the thief shrugged did not settle well with Miranda, it seemed too obvious on what Kasumi was going to say next. "Well there aren't a lot of packs left and I'm saving most of them for you, but don't worry I'll have something later, you go ahead and eat."

Miranda didn't quite know how Kasumi expected her to eat now that she had told her that and took her time to voice that particular complaint. "I can't just do that to you, that's unfair, here, you eat this pack and I'll get something…"

"I'm not eating one bit until you eat that!" Kasumi interrupted with an almost terrified look to her face at the offered ration pack Miranda had stuffed in her sights. "C'mon, let's not play this game again, please eat, for me? Pretty, pretty please?"

Miranda scoffed sulkily at the mockery that was Kasumi batting her eyelashes in the most ridiculous fashion, choosing to turn away from the thief to open her pack in silence and pick at the tasteless nutrients bar that was concealed in the wrapping.

"Good girl," the thief commented cheekily next to her and when Miranda looked over to glare she could see that Kasumi had purposely looked the other way in an attempt to hide her laughter. "You see, if you listened to me more often this whole journey would be so much simpler."

"I refuse to comment on that," Miranda muttered after she had swallowed the first mouthful of food to then turn her attention back onto the tech equipment that was settled in her lap, brow arching slightly at the progression of the SUV Hawke. "And it looks like we're going to be seeing Travis sooner than we had previously thought."

Kasumi made a noise that sounded significantly like she was blowing a raspberry. "Alright you win, why is that?"

Miranda cleared her dry throat, reaching over to tap the thief on the elbow and to then gesture to the view in front of them.

"Because he just entered the system."

With faint amusement Miranda watched as the thief's mouth gaped open and a sharp look of understanding washed over her features.

"Oh," Kasumi whispered with her eyes once more lighting up as the she sprang up from her chair. "_Oh!_ Crap! I'll go get my gun!"

That faint amusement was still on Miranda's face the moment Kasumi dashed out of the cockpit, and only dispersed the moment Kasumi reappeared with her arsenal strapped firmly around her waist.

* * *

><p><strong><strong>**I**t had taken about another ten minutes for Miranda to direct the _Black Wand's_ airlock to engage with Travis' _SUV Hawke_, overriding the lock with surprising ease, said ease that caused both Miranda to be on her guard (as much as she could as she limped along behind the thief) and for Kasumi to cloak with her SMG Locust out at the ready as they waited for the airlock doors to open.

It was of course pretty laughable and highly dangerous on Miranda's part that she was actually going through with this, onto a ship where there would no doubt be armed guards and soldiers, perhaps even Cerberus troopers themselves awaited them both, and yet Miranda still didn't waver behind Kasumi's cloaked form.

"So what's the plan?" Miranda heard the thief whisper from beside her before she was encased with the feeling of Kasumi's hand wrapped around her wrist, "because even a little kitten looks more intimidating than you right now – uh, no offence."

Miranda didn't even have Kasumi's appearance to openly glare at the thief, instead she directed most of it at the space where Kasumi should have been and ripped her wrist out of the thief's grip to readjust herself on her crutches.

"It depends on how many people are in there," Miranda whispered quietly, eyes narrowing as the airlock doors slowly started to fade into the green circle that signalled it was unlocked, "if we're lucky then it won't be many and I'll be able to take them out with my biotics."

A flicker of movement beside her made Miranda's eyes drift to the side to see that the thief had now uncloaked for a brief moment to rest her back against the door, hand hovering over the green circle whereas Kasumi's eyes looked nowhere else but deep within Miranda's hues with an emotion in them that made Miranda's chest tighten unexpectedly.

"But we don't know how many are in there do we? So what do we do now?" Kasumi continued to badger her, the emotion that had been so clear in her eyes before now starting to creep its way into the thief's voice.

Miranda arched a brow at said emotion, her lips pulled downwards into a disapproving frown. "There's no need to be so concerned, it just looks like we'll have to improvise won't we? It's not a plan that I'm happy using but it's the only way I see to find out where Oriana is; now open the door."

"Fine but I'm going in first to make sure everything's okay," Kasumi grumbled as she re-cloaked and pressed her hand down on the airlock to open up the way to Travis' ship. "Stay here and I'll come and get you when the way is clear."

Miranda rolled her eyes just as the other woman slowly slinked away, the only indication she had done so being the sound of footsteps of Kasumi clanking away from her, said noise growing more and more faint until Miranda finally lost her patience and hobbled forward on her crutches with her face set into a scowl of impatience, because hell, the _SUV Hawke_ wasn't _that_ big of a ship.

Whilst Miranda was sure Kasumi's concerns had been for her safety and that she was only trying to help it did not help squash the fact that the shorter woman was unintentionally ordering her around, a thing that everybody who knew her well would know that she did not take lightly.

It took longer than usual to enter the main hallway of the ship, yet the thing that bothered Miranda the most was how eerily quiet everything was, how she could hear nothing but the sounds of the ships engines whirring in the background and how the only other thing that was out of place was the blood splatters up the walls and on the floor; looking more like an artistic piece than the bloodbath it had obviously been by how much blood coated the area.

"Where is everyone?" Miranda mused quietly to herself, dragging herself forward with her eyes peeled everywhere in the long hallway, taking in each and every shadow and remembering it before moving on to analyse the corners of the corridors to see if there were shadows there that could be hiding an enemy just waiting to burst out of his hidey-hole.

The last time she had been on the ship Travis had had a crew of over twenty men, engineers, soldiers, guardsmen, technicians…And now they were nowhere to be seen, almost as if they hadn't existed in the first place; if that was not a reason to get damn suspicious of the whole thing going on here then Miranda had no idea what would convince her otherwise.

A dripping sound to her right caught her attention and with much effort Miranda swerved on her crutches to head towards what looked like to a jarred door, her brow furrowing even more each time the door slammed against something in the dark room that stopped it from closing.

Miranda restrained herself from investigating in case she bumped into anyone that would quite easily put a bullet through her head in her vulnerable state; no she would just have to check it out later with Kasumi, at least then she would have a fair chance of surviving if there was a hostile encounter to face.

Turning away from the scene she continued on her way down the long corridor to the cockpit, noticing that the further she went that the amount of gore started to become increasingly more frequent; blood coated the walls and floor with such viciousness that Miranda was fearful that she'd slip if she weren't careful, that and the fact that now she could see that rows of bodies were stacked up against the corners of the walls in a sitting position with their eyes glued open so all that she could see was the glassy white of each victim's eyes looking straight at her in an almost accusing manner.

What struck Miranda the most however was the fact that each and every victim were holding one another's hands, looking so very close and familiar with one another that it took her a while to realize that their throats had all been cut and a number was written on their foreheads, ranging from 1 to 9 and starting all over again; it was arguably one of the most horrendous things Miranda had ever seen and it took her arm coming up to cover her nose to stop herself from being sick at the horrible smell that assaulted her nostrils.

'_Good god_,' Miranda thought, turning her head to the side and retching a little whilst she continued forward (now at a desperate pace) towards her destination, eying the footstep prints that had been left on the floor with a growl, no doubt Kasumi had just walked right through the place without a care in the world; or maybe the thief had run out just to get away from the horrible sight of rotting corpses lined up against the wall.

Not that Miranda could blame her, even now as she got nearer to the cockpit she could hardly wait to get Travis (she refused to believe he was dead like the rest of his crew, she refused) and get the hell off this ship just to get away from the stench that plagued her and brought memories up from the very back of her mind.

When Miranda finally got nearer the entrance she was surprised to see that Kasumi was typing away at an interface, what made it so surprising was how casual the thief seemed to be, even whistling as she got to work typing away at something that was hidden by her back.

Miranda cleared her throat, startling Kasumi slightly so that she looked back at her with a scowl. "Hey! No sneaking up on people, that's _my_ job. Besides I told you I'd go fetch you…"

"I'm nobody's guard dog," Miranda interrupted sharply, eyes narrowing at the look of panic that had crossed Kasumi's face for half a second as Miranda's eyes wavered slightly to look at the screen before returning to the other woman's face. "Did you see Travis? Is he in here?"

Kasumi's eyes widened and what looked like to be an embarrassed grin appeared on her face, her hand stretching outwards to gesture at a slumped figure beside the terminal she had been working at. "Uh, yeah, funny you mention him, he's in that corner over here. I tried to patch his smaller wounds up but he wasn't having any of it."

Miranda resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the thief's abrasive way of thinking and pulled herself forward so that she could look more closely at the man's face, shocking herself at how all the anger she had felt for Travis before seemingly disappeared the moment the bloodied face of the SUV Hawke's captain turned to glare up at her.

At seeing what she was resting her whole weight on he spat out a laugh, blood coating her left cheek until Miranda pulled away from her leaning down position, her tongue pressed to one side of her mouth to stop herself from saying anything that would cause the other man anymore sick pleasure at seeing her in such a humiliating position.

"You gotta be kidding me," Travis continued to chuckle, his gloved hands curling upwards to thump at his chest the moment he started wheezing. "They sure did you in didn't they Lawson? Hah, and here I thought you were untouchable. Looks like I was wrong weren't I?"

Growing more and more irritated Miranda balanced herself on one of her crutches and reached for her pistol, drawing it to the very centre of Travis's head and digging in deep into the man's forehead with every intention of intimidating the living daylights out of the other man until he told her everything she wanted to know.

"I'm the one asking the questions, not you," she seethed, pressing even harder when Travis opened his mouth to speak. "And if you want your head to remain attached on your shoulders once I'm done with you then you should make sure what you're about to say is the truth."

The captain openly laughed, shaking his head, "the truth? How the fuck will that help us now eh? Didn't you see my crew down there? They're DEAD and no fucking truth will bring them back."

Miranda bristled in anger despite her calm exterior and it took Kasumi's hand on her elbow to calm her down, her own calm at the thief's touch surprising her greatly and letting her refocus her breathing that had suddenly gone heavy.

"Hey buddy this isn't really helping your case don't you think?" Kasumi told the captain with a tilt of her head, gesturing towards his bloodied form with a shrug of her shoulders, "seriously if I were you I'd just listen to her, unless you want your head blown off – then I'm sure Miranda would be more than willing to help."

He leered at Kasumi with such a ferocious distrust in his eyes that made Miranda pause in thought on what the hell was wrong with Travis now, previously when he had met Kasumi he could not have stopped himself if he tried at leering at the other woman with obvious intent in his eyes, which was why the sudden change in him made everything seem as though it was more fogged up and less clear than Miranda would have liked to believe.

"You going to just let your slut talk to me like that Lawson?" Travis finally spoke once more, eyes moving away from Kasumi's face to pierce right through Miranda's eyes instead. "How about you tell your bitch to back off and just maybe I'll tell you where your goddamn sister is."

Everything seemed to flash before Miranda's eyes then and it took everything not to slam her pistol right into Travis's head and demand answers right there and then, but she also knew if she did do something like that then what would happen would more likely damage her chance of finding the truth, that and maybe kill Travis with how fragile his whole state was right now.

Breathing out her frustration through her nose to hide the fact she was anything but calm, Miranda met Kasumi's eyes briefly to tell her to back off with as much anger and fury as she could and not regretting it one bit even when the thief rolled her eyes, muttered a sarcastic 'charming' and went back to doing whatever she had been doing at the terminal.

"How did you know I was coming for you to find out about my sister?" Miranda asked warily with her pistol still trained on the captain's forehead. "Nobody knew about Oriana's disappearance apart from me and Kasumi and of course Cerberus whom you helped deliver her to!"

"That answers your question then doesn't it?" Travis laughed with another trickle of blood escaping his lips to dribble down his chin. "What's wrong with you Lawson? Getting a bit too…"

Miranda silenced him with her biotics reaching forward to smack him upside the head, shattering the silence with such a powerful warp that for half a moment Kasumi looked up from her terminal to watch Miranda's face with fearful eyes before looking back down to where she was working.

Miranda chose to ignore the fear, she knew it wasn't directed at her personally which made it slightly easier to ignore but at the same time she didn't quite know if she liked Kasumi looking at her as though she was some sort of monster.

_Focus, just shut up and focus.  
><em>  
>"Answer my question, now," Miranda breathed threateningly with her biotics thrumming through her like a soothing sensation kneading and lavishing her tense muscles. "It's a bit convenient that you're in the same system as us just as we were about to jump to the Omega Nebula system to head to Lorek, so tell me, how did you know we were here to find you?"<p>

At first it didn't seem like the captain was going to answer but just when Miranda was about to use some more threatening techniques she was finally granted the sound of Travis's voice.

"Leng knew you were coming, that's how," he whispered quietly, eyes focused to the floor to avoid looking into Miranda's harsh cerulean hues. "I met Leng on Omega where the Illusive Man told me to take the girl, when I met him he took me and the rest of the crew hostage and killed us off one by one each day that passed and then he did…He did that fucking thing to their heads."

Miranda inwardly bristled at the thought of Leng's dirty hands all over her sister, no doubt having his way with her by torturing her innocence with words of filth and terror that would have scared her little sister senseless, a thing that would please Leng greatly as it always did when it came to how terrified his victims became of him.

And now just the image of those bodies in the hall seemed to make sense to her despite the carnage of it all, of course that had been Leng's work, how could she have not seen it before? Only Leng left a body that messed up when he had enough time to work, it was one of the traits Miranda had heard the Illusive Man admired somewhat despite how he, himself, grew queasy at that trait.

"I sympathise for what happened to your crew," Miranda told the bloodied man in front of her, truly meaning what had said and was now going to say, "but don't expect that sympathy to go towards you; you were the one who did this to them Travis when you stabbed me in the back and sold my sister out for your own selfish greed – I'm only sorry Leng didn't finish you off when he could."

Though saying that…If Leng had finished him off then he would not be alive to answer her questions, although he was not doing much of a good job on that anyway in Miranda's opinion.

Travis glared up at her, his bared teeth stained pink at the amount of blood that continued to leak out of his mouth. "Go to fucking hell Lawson, you want to know why Leng did this eh? Because he knew you'd come fucking running, want to know why they've got all those numbers on their heads eh? Eh? I'll fucking tell you why, they're all for you! They died because of you! Leng planned this for you to find, he planned for me to watch as you and your friend waltz over my ship and see this horror and all you can bloody say is that it's my fault? If I could fucking walk Lawson I'd drag you out of the goddamn airlock myself."

Miranda snorted despite herself, "I highly doubt that Travis, by all means try if you want, but your little sob story isn't moving anyone in here – now tell me what the numbers mean right _now_."

"They're coordinates," Kasumi interrupted them both before they could open their mouths to speak, turning her head away from her terminal to grant them a smile that left Miranda flabbergasted at how the thief could be so cheery considering the circumstance they were in right now. "They only got up to nine and the numbers stop at around the sixth person to then restart again on another row of victims; it's obvious that what Leng was doing was giving us a destination."

Miranda turned her gaze back onto Travis, silently waiting for a confirmation that eventually came when the man nodded his head and moved away from her eyes once again before speaking, "the thief isn't lying, Leng was talking about it with that VI woman who board my ship before they both left – one that looked a lot like you actually."

With a growl Miranda moved away from Travis to address the woman beside her, "Kasumi go check the coordinates and put them onto our own terminal back in the _Black Wand_, I need to speak to Travis by myself."

"I haven't finished with…" Kasumi started to respond, sounding awfully like someone had just kicked her in the face – it was a shame Miranda just did not have time for the thief's problems at the moment.

Miranda balanced herself on one of her crutches and made a grab for the other woman's arm, pulling her forward until they were both eye to eye and their breathing mingled together until finally Kasumi's breathing hitched and the only heat Miranda could feel on her face was from the thief breathing through her nose.

Now that the thief was as silent as she most likely would ever be in Miranda's presence Miranda was gifted with another moment to study what little she could of Kasumi's face, mostly taking an interest in the shorter woman's dark hues that crinkled in confusion at first and then settled into something that…Well, Miranda couldn't put her finger on what it was actually.

"That was not a request," Miranda breathed in the thief's face, cocking her head to the side and gesturing behind her shoulder back down the corridor of the ship. "Now can you follow orders or do I have to use other methods to get you moving?"

Instead of the effect of dominance Miranda had hoped to gain with that one sentence she was instead granted with a flirtatious smirk appearing on the other woman's face, stunning Miranda temporarily and causing her grip on her crutches to slacken slightly until she realized with a bone-crushing certainty that this was Kasumi's way of making her give in – well, it might work on Shepard but Miranda was not such an easy push over.

"Clear?" Miranda spoke again, releasing Kasumi's arm and staring the other woman down until that stupid smirk finally left her face.

"Clear," the shorter woman replied with a tone that was as mocking as it was coy, moving away from the terminal she had been working at to leave the area of the cockpit. "And thanks Travis for the information about the neural implants cache stored on Feynman, that'll be a great help to my people."

Miranda had no idea what any of that meant but whatever Kasumi had said made Travis's face contort with such hate that it took her by surprise when he banged his fist on the metal surface next to him and screamed, words of putrid anger causing his tone to become much more intimidating and deadly than before. "I will rip your head off you bitch! Come back here! COME BACK HERE!"

Miranda had had enough of this man's bullshit and with much difficulty she eventually grabbed part of his shirt that let her pull him up to her height – with a little help from her biotics of course – until they could see each other, eye to eye.

"You're not dealing with her, you're dealing with me," Miranda growled with her eyes wide and as intimidating as she could possibly make them in this situation. "Now tell me what Leng said to the VI and – wait, how did you know she was a VI if she looked like me?"

"Part of her skin was burnt, could see that damn metallic silver even with blood in my eyes," Travis spluttered, his eyes still angrily going up and down the corridor where the carnage of Leng's killing spree still remained. "They were talking about the scuffle you apparently had on Earth, looked like Leng wasn't impressed with her considering you weren't terminated nor that thief, but after that Leng, the VI and your sister left Omega on a different ship just with those coordinates being any goddamn sign they left you anything."

Miranda allowed him to drop back down to his original position, mouth wide and silent whilst inside her head it felt like she was working a mile a minute in trying to sort everything out; because if Leng had been disappointed with her for not being dead then why oh why did he want her to find Oriana?

"What you're saying makes no sense, Leng wants me dead and not to find Oriana," Miranda reasoned with Travis as best as she could, eyeing him wearily to try and spot anything that would signal distrust in the man in front of her. "Why would he leave those coordinates for me to find?"

Travis grinned and once more Miranda had to restrain the urge to punch him right in the face. "You're asking the wrong person Lawson, just know that whatever Leng's planning for you then you better be prepared for it – he isn't a man I'd attempt to kill that's for sure."

Miranda smiled sourly at that with a sarcastic arch of her brow, "It's exactly why there will be no attempts Travis, only certainties. But it looks like I won't be getting any more out of you and since Kasumi ever so kindly took it upon herself to grab most of the intel here that means I'll be leaving now."

Not bothering to wait for a reply Miranda turned on her crutches to teeter away from the battered individual behind her, not willing to allow any other uncertainties to cloud her mind or her judgement.

That was, however, until Travis made the mistake of opening his mouth and what came out of it suddenly made Miranda grow cold.

"You can't trust that thief y'know!" He called from behind her, his voice not having that usual twang of heavy sarcasm and wit that it usually came with; that alone causing Miranda to turn slightly so that she could see his face once more. "She's one of em, she'll betray you quicker than a flash, you just watch. She'll make you think she cares, hell maybe she even will care, but don't you think for one second you can trust that hooded bitch with anything."

Miranda found that advice coming from Travis almost laughable, hell he was the one who she should be worried about when it came to trust, not that she had any trust in him now, however he was the only lead she had left and because of that she would just have to trust him; still, it did not make the very thought of Kasumi betraying her any less humorous.

Even if Kasumi did not like her very much (and Miranda could hardly blame her if she didn't) it didn't change the fact that Kasumi was Shepard's closest friend, almost as close as being the blonde Commander's soul mate if Miranda wanted to get technical about it; and that only meant one thing: Kasumi cared about the things Shepard cared about, it was the obvious rules of friendship as close as theirs and so the very thought of Kasumi doing anything to betray her made Miranda shake her head at the absurdity of it all.

"Pray tell me why I should believe a word coming out your mouth? Pray tell me why I shouldn't just put a bullet right through your head and leave it at that?"  
>Travis just smirked in reply, sending another cold shiver down Miranda's spine, "because you ain't got nobody else to turn to."<p>

"Wrong," Miranda muttered fiercely with a venomous fire of confidence coating her tongue and words enough that it didn't even make her cringe when the last of her sentence escaped past her lips before she could stop it.

"I have Kasumi."

* * *

><p><strong>"Y<strong>ou took your time honey," Kasumi remarked casually as the ex-Cerberus operative limped past her, taking her chair in the pilot's seat, "I was starting to think you'd gotten lost."

"I just had to deal with a few things, did you find anything that we could use?"

Kasumi turned her head to look at the other woman in equal surprise and shock, mostly at the fact that Miranda had not addressed her in her usual detached tone; yet knowing that if she didn't answer soon she would soon enough get that aloofness Kasumi cleared her throat to speak.

"The coordinates lead to an underground warehouse on the colony Tiptree," Kasumi informed the other woman with as much cordiality as possible considering their tense exchange a few moments before. "I pulled it up on the VI map of the galaxy and it says that it's already been took over by Reaper ground forces and I honestly don't know what we'll find there but it's worth a shot isn't it? It's the only lead we have now considering Mr Asshat back there couldn't tell us anything."

"Ah yes, that was very nice and subtle of you telling him you stole all his intel to send back to your 'clients', whomever they are," Miranda responded sarcastically yet it lacked the usual bite and contempt, which told Kasumi that no matter what she said right now it would not affect Miranda in the slightest; well, she hoped not anyway. "No really, it's very much appreciated."

"Ah sarcasm," Kasumi murmured with a shrug of her shoulders, giving the loyalist a sly wink. "Doesn't suit you, cause it's another form of humour and all."  
>Miranda sighed, starting up the ship again, "thank you for pointing that out, any other insights you have?"<p>

Kasumi shook her head, pouting out her lower lip for the operative to see. "That's a negative ma'am."

When the thief looked over again at the ex-Cerberus agent she was shocked to see Miranda still looking at her with a glint in her eye Kasumi didn't recognize, almost as if she was being analysed.

"Is there a problem?" Kasumi asked in jest, spinning in her seat so that she could face the other woman directly, "cause you can talk to me about it if you want."

Miranda turned her face away then, flicking on multiple switches and pressing down on more buttons to start up the engine of their ship with the obvious intent of following wherever those coordinates would take them onto the colony Tiptree.

"There's no problem," Miranda said after a few moments of silence, looking over at Kasumi once more. "Just next time follow my orders, I looked stupid having a hissy fit with you back there."

Kasumi threw her hands up in the air in mock surrender before she got up from her chair, reaching over to pat Miranda on the shoulder. "Whatever honey, do you want anything to eat?"

Miranda glared at the thief from over her shoulder, shaking her head in absolute ridicule. "Do you ever stop eating?"

"Do you ever stop being so patronizing?" Kasumi responded back with a bob of her tongue, turning away from the loyalist with a little chuckle. "Oh you're my favourite you are. Favourite person to travel with, ever."

The loyalist sighed and ignored the gnawing sensation in her stomach, she would have no time to linger on what Travis had said, not when she was so close to finding out a clue to where Oriana was.

And she would find Oriana, even if it killed her. 

* * *

><p><strong>Answers to anonymous reviews :)<strong>  
><strong>Kris<strong> - Thank you for the review sweetest, I'll let you know when I'm done with the sequel to Perfect Insanity because I might take it down and rewrite it again because I want to finish some things off with it. Thanks for the review of Raw though, I hope you liked this chapter. Let me know yeah?  
><strong>Jack<strong> - Glad you're liking the whole Shep/Kas/Miri dynamic! :D and of course thanks for reviewing.


	10. Tiptree

**Chapter 10: Tiptree**

_Kasumi had never wanted to be in this mess. Never. _

* * *

><p><strong>T<strong>iptree would be best described as small human colony that consisted mostly of farmlands and long open fields full of freshly green cut grass that contrasted greatly against the bright blue of the sky, it was a description of a place Miranda wouldn't have minded living in when she had been a young, more naïve girl who did not know how to hold a gun, least of all how to shoot one.

It was nice to think of it however, even Miranda couldn't deny herself that one falsehood of the future she could have had if she had lived a normal life, had been born to a normal father who did not wish to use her as a tool of desire and power, did not wield her name and face to booster his dynasty right in the faces of his enemies; if she had been loved as more as an investment.

But these thoughts were the thoughts of her 14 year old self and not the 35 year old she was today, no, it would best to leave the thoughts behind lest they overtake her in a swarm that would be too powerful to wrench her from and far too embarrassing to express to the silent thief beside her. How could she ever begin to explain to Kasumi the depths she hid away from not just the world, but herself? How could the thief even begin to understand something when Miranda couldn't even wrap her head around it herself?

The fact of the matter was that Kasumi just could not know that side of her, could not know the innocence that had been there when Miranda had been 14; before she had become a weapon and a slave to craving and supremacy that ran through her perfect genetics – a weapon that had been formed by her father, a weapon to be wielded against anything that dared threaten her father's business.

Miranda pulled herself out of the mind-numbing memories to catch a flicker of movement to her right, head tilting to the side slightly as she watched the thief next to her stiffen up considerably the closer they got to Tiptree with her muscles clearly tensing underneath the padded hooded suit known as armour. It was almost as if Kasumi was…afraid.

And who could blame her? Miranda realized with a roll of her eyes at her own stupidity at the situation, who wouldn't be scared at the possibility that they were going into Reaper territory to find something that neither of them was sure would be a trap or if it would be as safe as it got on a Reaper controlled planet? Who in their right mind wouldn't be scared?

Despite it all Miranda knew that _she_– at the very least – could not afford to be scared right now, not with Kasumi almost shaking like a leaf next to her and not with the thoughts racing through her mind that if she did not find this next clue then she would be left with the fact that Oriana was lost to her, and even worse, with only Cerberus as company.

Mustering up most of her courage (and then some for Kasumi's sake) Miranda curled her right hand into a fist before she leaned over to place it on the hard surface just above the terminal Kasumi was sat at with the coordinates, silently hoping against hope that this would be more than enough for the thief to glance up at her and would allow her to do…

"Are you alright?" Miranda sighed in what she hoped to be a voice that didn't sound too irritated and in fact more concerned – what surprised her the most however, was the fact that this concern did not even have to be feigned, it was almost as if it came second nature to her this time. "You look tense, if it proves to be too much for you then wait here and I'll go search the underground base."

"With the condition you're in now? I really don't think that's a good idea," Kasumi replied back in a much smaller voice Miranda had expected, the tone of delicacy in it causing her to stare at the thief in silent wonder that was only broken by the sound of the ship swerving downwards into the large crater that led to the underground miners dig site. "Besides I'm fine, just…Those Reaper guys? Freak the crap out of me."

Miranda nodded, she could relate to that she supposed. "I would think you as an idiot if you weren't a little freaked out about them, but look at it this way…"

"Miranda," the thief interrupted with a sharp tone that made Miranda pause in looking out of the ship's viewing area to turn her head towards Kasumi's direction. "No offence honey, but things like the Reapers? Sometimes it's better not to look at them any other way but as the monsters they are, even if it probably would be better with some false sense of comfort, it's not the thing that I want."

Regarding the thief with an arched brow at the unexpected tone, Miranda looked back to what she was doing and pressed a few buttons and flicked a few switches off to lower the engines of their ship until it slowly landed on the ground with a small thumping noise, said impact making both herself and Kasumi jolt a little in their chairs and for Izzy (who had been wandering around the ship meowing constantly for a good hour) to yowl angrily at the uneasy sway of the _Black Wand_landing.

Taking a look out of the window showed Miranda that whatever lurked inside the miners dig site was near impossible to tell considering how dark everything was, it was a stark contrast from the muddy browns and splatters of orange that was the crater they had landed and even then that was another amazing contrast of the grassy main lands that they had passed to get to the dig site in the first place.

"Right," Miranda interrupted the silence all of a sudden, jerking upwards on her crutches to get out of her chair and hobble towards the weaponry area near the back of the ship where she had placed her Locust SMG along with the shock grenades that the thief had picked up back on Travis's ship. "You've got the coordinates hooked up on your omni-tool haven't you? That's good news for us; if we can just sneak in and see where these coordinates lead then perhaps it'll give us another lead on where Oriana is." She was just about to explain more when Kasumi's narrowed eyes and look of disbelief caused Miranda to pause to send her own look (though of confusion) back at the other woman.

Kasumi scratched at her chin nervously as a response, moving beside Miranda to pick up her own weapons before speaking. "Well, I don't know how to say this to you, but uhm… You can hardly walk; in fact, you can't walk at all."

The biotic repressed a growl by curling her fingers around the metal of the weaponry table, eyes staring straight ahead to look at her own reflection in the silvery walls of the _Black Wand_ with her mind racing dangerously; because how stupid did the thief think she was? She knew just as well as Kasumi that she would be nothing but a liability to the mission if she went in there with the thief, but what else could she do? She would not just sit here and hope for the best whilst Kasumi did all the work. She wouldn't. She _couldn't.__  
><em>  
>"Hey don't feel so bad, I'll be out soon and then we can get our next clue right? I mean, if Oriana isn't already there…"<p>

Miranda clenched down harder on the metal surface in front of her, staring up at the thief with a glower. "I'm coming with you, no arguments."

At that Miranda turned to leave after pocketing her gun, holding down on her crutches to turn, yet all of a sudden she was stopped by Kasumi standing right in front of her with a look on her face that actually had the effect of making something as cold as ice run down Miranda's spine in bewilderment at how terse and angry the thief looked.

"You know you're just going to be holding us both back if you come don't you?" Kasumi told her with a cock of her head that made Miranda bite the inside of cheek to stop herself from saying anything she would regret later on, "just stay behind this time, that way I'll be out before you know it and nobody will get hurt; which is exactly the way I like it."

The loyalist inwardly bristled at the tone the thief had decided to take up with her and voiced this by once more leaning down into Kasumi's face, breathing as shallowly (and silently) as possible to repress her ever-growing frustration. "But I'm not happy with that; it's my sister we're talking about here, not some raggedy piece of equipment you no doubt would love to get your hands on."

At least the thief had the decency to look offended by that. "Hey! I wouldn't ditch your sister for some equipment; I'll have you know that I'm a very loyal person when I want to be!" And as if to prove that very fact the other woman grabbed hold of one of Miranda's hands on top of her crutches and tugged slightly with a gentleness that startled Miranda despite the irritation she felt at the moment.

"Where are you leading me?" Miranda huffed with her eyes glued to the curve of Kasumi's cheek, slightly admiring the way it curved elegantly inwards – a little like Shepard's now that she thought about it…

"To a chair, where you're going to sit and wait until I get back," Kasumi informed her with a sickeningly sweet voice that caused Miranda's eyes to narrow angrily and for the thief to laugh when she caught sight of her expression, goddamn that Japanese girl.

"Now seriously Miranda, just stay here and wait for me alright? You aren't going to be helping me if I'm too worried about making sure your butt is safe now are you?"

Again Miranda bit the inside of her cheek to restrain herself, shaking her head wearily at the ridiculousness of the situation the thief had presented to her and wondering silently how the hell would she be able to assist if she was stuck in this dump of a ship? How could she be of any help at all?

Unless…Well of course, she had no idea why she hadn't thought of it before; of course she could do that.

"Fine," Miranda relented with a sigh, half-smiling at the look of shock that came over Kasumi's face before she frowned with a little shake of her head at the next part of her sentence. "But we keep in contact at all times and you send every piece of intel to me through omni-tool, that way I can make sure you aren't hoarding tech without telling me what it is and whom you're sending it to."

For a flicker of a moment it looked like Kasumi was about to disagree, yet once more the thief astounded Miranda by chuckling and gazing at her in a way that made Miranda's chest tighten in confusion and something that felt very painful and suffocating; overall? It wasn't a nice feeling.

"You're starting to sound like my mom," Kasumi told her with another small chuckle before she petted her on the cheek and turned to leave, activating her omni-tool and cloaking device until all Miranda could see was a faint outline of the thief moving towards the hanger doors. "Either way, I'll be going now honey, so try and not to fidget yourself another broken leg please? Shepard would be really pissed off with me otherwise."

Miranda rolled her eyes and sulkily pulled herself upwards to sit in the chair that controlled the _Black Wand's_weaponry systems, flicking the switches to turn said weapons on in case she was attacked either from the Reaper forces down below with them or from up above.

That thief would be the absolute death of her.

* * *

><p><strong>K<strong>asumi held in a deep breath as she descended downwards into the miner's dig site, gripping onto the wall to her right to discover that not only was it slippery but it also had speckles of granite eroding off to land on her gloved hands; it was a good sign, it at least told her that she was going in the right direction.

She glanced at her omni-tool to look at the coordinates and to see how far away she was from her destination, it would do her no good to be walking into a trap after all and if Kasumi had her way then she might even be able to steal some more intel about the tech here and send half of it off to her employers and the other parts off to the Crucible that Shepard had informed her and Miranda of a few hours after departing the Citadel.

It was a fair deal, and that way she would still be able to help her employers and Shepard at the same time – meaning that nobody lost! Herself, her employers, Shepard; nobody lost…Well, unless she counted Miranda but the thief had no intention of telling the ex-Cerberus agent anything about where she was sending her tech, no sir – Miranda…She wouldn't understand, and Kasumi had not got the time of day to try and make Miranda understand; so she just left her to it and hoped that one day these events would pass and everything would go back to being normal.

Her running away from any authority trying to get her, Shepard being Shepard and scouring the galaxy in her big hero sort of way and Miranda…Well, she'd be far away from Kasumi, and that could not be a bad thing considering the crap that they were both going through right now.

A sharp crackling noise interrupted Kasumi from her thoughts and with a sigh the thief glanced down at her omni-tool, faking shock at the sight of Miranda Lawson looking up at her with a cold, calculating expression on her face. "You know it hasn't even been five minutes? Have a little faith Miranda, honey…"

"Well keep me updated and I won't have to keep bugging you," Miranda told her with a small, frustrated growl. "And stop calling me honey, you've got a job to do."

The thief didn't personally know how calling Miranda honey stopped her from doing anything but she decided to keep tight-lipped in case the other woman tried to hit her, but either way Kasumi ignored the other woman with a shrug and sauntered her way down the ever foreboding walls of the mine with a little skip in her step and only stopped when she got to two tunnels – one leading to the left and the other to the right.

Knowing the coordinates almost off by heart by now, Kasumi took the left and continued down the long, spiralling corridor with her heart in her throat as each step she took made the walls seem to close in on her and for her eyes to pick at every shadow she could see with an uncertainty that put Kasumi on edge.

The stony interior soon changed into what looked like to be a typical warehouse, the walls metallic and splattered silver, black and yellow as Kasumi had silently expected them to be the moment they had landed and had not been greeted with Reaper forces; either the Reapers thought them too insignificant or Cerberus had kept wards on their base to try and hold the Reapers back anyhow and did not think of checking the landing pad as well as they probably should have.

"Hey Miranda, looks like our old pals Cerberus are here," Kasumi murmured into her headset once she had gotten it set up with the help of her omni-tool, turning a corner to head towards a room where she heard faint scratching noises that distinctly sounded as though someone was trying to get away from something. "And I don't think they know we're here, it's really quite, and hardly anybody is here."

"Don't get comfortable with that, it's most likely a trick. Are you cloaked?" Ah yes, very Miranda, believing Kasumi was some sort of simpleton and not cloaking, very, very Miranda Lawson.

"Of course I'm cloaked, what sort of idiot do you take me for?" Kasumi sniped back at the ex-loyalist of Cerberus, rolling her eyes at the restrained noise she heard from the other end. "Now I'm just taking a slight detour through this one door, I think I can hear something trying to escape."

She could already hear Miranda cursing her but the thief ignored that with a smug smile at managing to work the other woman up again and continued her way inside, stopping briefly to examine the room for split second before she stopped and examined the room again until her eyes caught sight of something moving in a large, titanium chamber.

It took another few minutes for Kasumi to recognize what the hell it was that was moving inside there but when she did realize she let out a gasp, covering her mouth to stop any other sounds from escaping her throat as her eyes continued to examine the monstrous creature in front of her.

The mandibles of the horrendous thing in front of her clicked together angrily at the scent of her and its clawed hands scraped against its prison, writing in a furious rage and shrieking blindly and in confusion as it tried to get at an enemy it could not see or reach.

Kasumi shook her head at the creature and started to sift through datapads that had been left out in the open, scanning through them with ease as she took in word after word of little notes that held no sense to her apart from one word: control.

However that was not enough for her to speculate anything on why the living hell Cerberus had Reapers in their base, it could be for any number of reasons after all and it most certainly didn't make her sound clear-headed if she went around telling Miranda this information if she couldn't back it up…Still she uploaded the data to her omni-tool, just in case it came to bit her back in the ass, and Kasumi was very protective of her ass in most situations.

So with that she turned away from the scene in front of her, inwardly shuddering as she left the room with only one last glance beside her to see that the Reaper creature had slumped to the bottom of the titanium case with small, whispery sounds that made something cold settle in the very bottom of Kasumi's stomach until all that was left was a bitter sensation that caused the thief to flee from the room at an even quicker pace than before.

She rounded the corner to head towards another room where the coordinates was taking her, only stopping for a few moments to glance in other rooms and pocket some technical equipment that wouldn't make Miranda ask too many questions, after all, she was a thief and she prided herself in not getting caught.

Kasumi could still just about hear Miranda's breathing from the other side of the headset and for some reason it calmed her, calmed her enough that the sound of her heart beating loud in her chest had somewhat fell quiet until the only thing she could hear was her breathing and the sound of the air conditioning going through the corridors she was in.

What surprised her the most was the fact that there seemed to be little to nobody in this underground base apart from a few scientists, half of them so preoccupied in what they were doing that they didn't even notice when she entered a room and the other half too exhausted to actually care about why the door was opening and shutting on its own.

Once Kasumi had even got close enough to stare into one of the elder scientists face with her breath caught in her throat and her eyes narrowed to study the tired lines of his face, to examine the glassy look that was the Cerberus scientist's blue eyes and to trace the wisps of white hair with her the very tip of her fingers before she pulled herself away with the realisation that everyone was little more than robots; too focused to notice anything even if Kasumi took the liberty to punch one in the face.

Once she had finished coming out of the last room with the scientists Kasumi headed towards the only door left where the coordinates could be leading her, opening the door with a little push of her thumb and darting inside quickly to come face-to-face with a very familiar looking face.

_'Holy shitting ducks,'_ Kasumi thought with barely a hiss escaping through her teeth to pass through her lips, ducking out of the way of her enemy's arms to settle behind a desk cabinet that she recognized to be holding medical equipment that she had seen before in the previous rooms_. 'Please do not do a heat scan, please do not do that.__ That would be very bad, very, very bad and I am too young and pret__ty to die. Also I owe that hanar e__mpress her __portrait;__ she did say I'd die a horrible death if I didn't return it after all…'__  
><em>_  
><em>"Project Lawson, your attention is required to be fixing these communication towers and not scanning the room." A hard voice cut through the air and with a gulp Kasumi looked around the corner of the cabinet to watch the familiar figure of Kai Leng appear from another door at the far back of the room. "I also want your assistance in helping…"

"Operative Leng," the VI interrupted the Cerberus assassin, shocking Kasumi at how absurdly alike the VI was to Miranda, even going as far as to copying her mannerisms and posture that Kasumi had long since grown used to and now knew just as well as her own body. "I believe that my other form will arrive soon, do you wish for me to prepare for combat?"

Kasumi bit the inside of her cheek at hearing that risked another glance to check where the VI was, almost relieved to see that the Miranda look-alike was still standing at the entrance with her head cocked to the side with an almost curious look on her face; as if she was speculating why the door existed in the first place.

It was that moment Kasumi took the chance to move away from her hiding place and to head towards the control panel in the centre of the room, crawling on all fours and hiding behind each cabinet (despite knowing she was invisible through sight alone) with such ease that the thief almost momentarily forgot where she was and let herself fall into the embrace of her usual life of the shadows and deceit that came with her profession.

She was the thief she had always been, she did not lose her cool and most certainly did not fear the possibility – she was Kasumi Goto and she did not fear, she was Kasumi Goto and her heart was made of flesh yes, but she was also Kasumi Goto and her skin was made of diamond and that was the sharpest thing that no horror would, could, take away from her.

That confidence (_perhaps arrogance_) was easily taken away from her the moment she heard Leng's voice come from directly behind her. "There will be no need to take up arms with her Operation Lawson, your other form took quite a beating from you. From what I've heard she can barely walk, if anything, you should take her apart with your bare hands."

'_The hell you'll hurt Miranda,'_Kasumi seethed quietly with a small growl, rolling slightly away from her hiding place until her back collided with the control panel and her hands curled around the sides of the object with her eyes set straight ahead to focus on both Leng and the VI.

"But that is for another time VI, I do not plan to kill Ms Miranda Lawson anytime soon," Leng's voice got threateningly closer to the thief and it took everything within Kasumi not to bolt and run for cover, but she couldn't; she needed to do this for Oriana's sake…And Miranda's. "Illusive Man's orders; persuading me proved…almost difficult for him."

Kasumi decided that she honestly did not want to know and quickly returned back to the console, pulling herself up straight and mulling over the data feed that she quickly found out was a list of names of the deceased and of what looked like to be an asari military team that had dropped down a week back, though if they were deceased or not Kasumi could not make out.

Two names were highlighted from the list: a young girl named Hilary Moreau (_'Joker's sister?'_) and an asari from the commando list known as Aeian T'Goni, it certainly made it clear to Kasumi that whatever was going on had something to do with these two particular people and that they had obviously been highlighted for a damn reason.

Kasumi checked the records again in case she missed anything, looking through more and more names and locations whilst trying her best to ignore the conversation that was happening behind her; now was not the time to get distracted with a killer assassin and VI at her back.

"…and the thief, no doubt she thinks we know nothing about her involvement with Ms Lawson." Damn it. Leng's voice had the ability to grasp her attention anyhow, probably because of how soft his tone was in comparison to his sick and twisted nature. "It would cripple Shepard emotionally to break the thief if we caught her. The Illusive Man said nothing about Ms Goto's welfare, which probably means I can do whatever I want with her if caught."

The thief rolled her eyes, finally finishing up with the personal records and saving them on her omni-tool to send to Miranda; if Leng wanted to think her so incapable then fine, but he would be the one to end up dead, not her.

However that soon changed at the sensation of a hand gripping at her neck, and with a choked gasp Kasumi could only watch in horror as her appearance slowly started to fade back into existence for all to see.

It was one of the most spine-tingling sensation she had ever encountered at seeing her own horrified reflection staring back at her, watching as her mouth tried to form words that were beyond incomprehensible and the way her hands flailed around to blindly tug at the strong fingers that grappled her neck – god fucking damnit.

"Like I have Ms Goto right now, observe VI and watch how I make Ms Goto's body experience pain she has never felt before," Leng murmured and before Kasumi could do anything she had been whirled around to face the VI version of Miranda Lawson and now felt a whole new wave of pain and tension that started at her neck to travel downwards to the tips of her toes as Leng squeezed. "Watch, she'll even turn a different colour soon."

"Due to lack of oxygen?" The VI asked with a tilt of her head, regarding Kasumi's struggling with a wide-eyed stare.

"I don't think you even tried at sarcasm then," Kasumi spat out with another wracking cough as she felt the corners of her eyes start to darken around the rims of her eyelids.  
>Kasumi let out another gasping breath and grabbed one of her shock grenades from her belt, tugging it fiercely away from her and activating it by pushing it into Leng's chest and pressing down the switch with a speed that made Leng shout out in surprise as a pang of pain tugged at him and forced grip on her to slacken; enough that the thief immediately broke away from his grasp and turned on her heel to dart away as fast as she could.<p>

Instinctively the VI was on her trail as Kasumi pushed past the virtual intelligence, the superior mechanical legs of the Miranda lookalike already gaining more speed and crossing more lengths than Kasumi had thought possible; however all it did was make the thief run even faster back down the lengthy corridors of the Cerberus underground base, arms stretched outwards to push and pull canisters and other bits and pieces of equipment down behind her, a mad attempt at slowing the VI down.

"Miranda! MIRANDA! I swear you better be hearing me right now, but you need to open the hatch for me and get ready for take-off!" Kasumi yelled into her headset, shrugging inwardly at her inner lecturing on how loud she was being, she had already been found out after all, screw being quiet. "I am too petite to be broken by a mechanical crazy woman who looks like you! So just listen and get ready to open that hatch!"

A loud bang made Kasumi turn back for a second to see that not only was crazy psycho bitch Miranda number 2 was rushing after her, but Leng as well with his hand outstretched with what looked like to be a lethal sort of missile coming out of his hands; overall it looked like something out of a 21st century movie, and those movies (in Kasumi's opinion) was only likeable if they contained a little bit of magic.

Once again letting her shock grenades fall to the floor by unlatching them from her belt the thief let out a loud yell of victory at the sound of another pained grunt from Leng, the noise making her turn back around for half a second to see him stop for a moment to regain his posture before rushing once more at her; it was a game of wit and Kasumi knew that in this game she was nothing but the best.

She danced her way through the rooms presented to her and practically pranced down the corridors she had come through before, tracing her footsteps with an ease that shouldn't have been that easy and with a laugh that no doubt caused frustration in Leng at being outwitted; however if Miranda had not received her message then the only one who would be laughing in the end would most certainly be Leng.

The sound of ship engines whirring in the background however made Kasumi smile and with another laugh she threw the last shock grenade she had over her shoulder, rushing out of the Cerberus mining site and whooping in celebration at seeing the Black Wand's hatch open, and the person waiting for her at the very bottom was none other than Miranda Lawson who had her SMG on her at the ready and her hand outstretched with her elbows being pressed down on her crutches to balance her upright.

If Kasumi had not been running for her life she would have probably taken the time to call Miranda an idiot for risking herself like she was, yet life-threatening situations did change her perspective and with a grunt the thief jumped up as high as she possibly could to grab at Miranda's hand.

For a split second Kasumi watched helplessly as the other woman staggered at the strain of her weight, however just as the thief was so sure they were both going to topple off the _Black Wand's_hatch Miranda let out a frustrated growl and threw her gun down to pick Kasumi up with both of her hands, hauling the thief aboard with a forceful tug that sent them both sprawling.

"Ouch, could you be less gentle?" Kasumi complained with a good-natured laugh at seeing the look of disbelief on Miranda's face, turning on her side to grab the SMG Miranda had dropped to present it back to the ex-Cerberus agent. "Oh by the way, you dropped your gun."

Miranda snatched it off her with a sulky look before she clutched down at her crutches, using them to swerve her around so she could hoist herself back up, "and you're lucky I don't shoot _you_."

Kasumi smiled as cheerfully as she could at that, helping Miranda up as she too got up to look back down at the scene below them both to see that not only had the VI and Leng stopped right at the entrance but it looked as though they were almost waiting for Miranda and herself to leave, as if they had planned for this to happen.

Or so Kasumi had thought, that thought however quickly left the moment the VI lifted up her pistol and started firing at them, knocking the thief off guard and causing Miranda to stagger and lose grip of one of her crutches in the process until she could not help but fall back down from where she had originally fallen.

"For fuck sake," Miranda muttered with a frustration Kasumi had normally assumed the loyalist saved for her, it was almost a very nice revelation to discover differently but then again there was no such thing as a nice revelation when it came to being shot at. "Kasumi get back on the ship! I'll pull myself up!"

The thief rolled her eyes and bent down low to grab Miranda from under her arms, forcefully pulling at Miranda up the hatch with her back strained at Miranda's pretty much deadweight legs. "Hey VI! Would be a real nice time to getting us the hell out of Tiptree!"

"Specify a location Ms Goto," the _Black Wand's_VI chirped back at her pleasantly, the synthesised voice faint due to the ship's engines and the gunshots being fired from below. "Also, do you require medical assistance?"

Kasumi on the other hand was thinking on overtime, trying her hardest to think of a location that would keep them safe and not tip off Cerberus on where the hell they were going – damn it if she could only think then it would be so much easier! Who else did she know that would safeguard them from harm for as long as possible?

Oh, well, now that she thought that…Kasumi _did_know somewhere she and Miranda could hide.

"Gellix! Get us to Gellix!" Kasumi ordered the VI with a nod, refusing to look back even when the gunshots started to get more audible and Miranda's pained grunts more overbearing.

Then there was one particular gunshot that _did_make her look back as her fingers jerked wildly at the tension that had suddenly flooded through Miranda's body, causing it to become stiff and unresponsive and for the impact of whatever had pierced the loyalist to almost throw Kasumi overboard.

"You alright!?" The thief yelled over the loud din of the ship's engine, finally managing to pull Miranda on board and to slam her elbow against the hatch's entrance and close them both away from any gunshots that could have possibly hit them before.

"Fantastic," was Miranda's pained response and from that pain alone Kasumi abandoned all thoughts of logical thinking and ran around Miranda so that she could see the other woman face-to-face. "I'm fine, leave me and go handle the…"

"You call a BIG, gaping bullet hole in your shoulder fine?!" Kasumi interrupted with exasperation clear on her face as punched the other woman hard in her opposite shoulder, "why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it just happened! Now help me up and get us out of here!" Miranda responded with equal exasperation, tugging at Kasumi's elbows at the same time the thief moved to lift her up from under her thighs, leaving Miranda hoisted on the thief's shoulder like some sort of package. "And did you find anything?"

Kasumi resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she stumbled through the walkway up to the control centre, trying her best not to trip over Izzy (who was still meowing like crazy) in the process. "How about we talk about this when we aren't being shot at by Cerberus AND Reaper forces?"

From how quiet Miranda went Kasumi took it as an affirmation and so she rushed back up to her seat at the control centre, spinning the chair to face her and gently placing Miranda down in it before turning to look wildly at the controls presented to her; honestly she should not have been panicking so much considering the VI was doing most of the work but not even the VI could control the engines as well as a human pilot.

"Press the green button on your left," Miranda told her after noticing her hesitation, "it'll increase the speed of the engines so that it'll make it harder for the Reapers to target us before we get to the mass relay."

"There are several green buttons to my left!" Kasumi responded back with a snappish tone, turning back around to gesture to Miranda the control panel that did indeed contain several green buttons, "this would be so much easier if each ship came with a manual!"

Miranda rolled her eyes and with obvious difficulty she gripped at Kasumi's elbow and pulled herself up to slam the nearest green button to her left, letting herself fall back down on her seat a moment later with an almost smug look threatening to break through on her expression.

"Very funny," Kasumi murmured before she and Miranda both fell (Miranda, from her seat) at the impact of the Black Wand leaving Tiptree's surface to ascend into the darkness of space.

* * *

><p><strong>"Y<strong>ou need to strip now," Kasumi told Miranda now that they were far from Reaper space and was heading to their destination of Gellix, said destination causing Miranda to look at the thief curiously before she fell into a silence; no doubt thinking that this would be the location of their next clue and well, Kasumi would not be the one to break it to her anytime soon.

Miranda, who now sat back in her old bed on the _Black Wand_, arched her brow at the thief with a scowl coming to her lips, "I already told you that it'll be fine and I'll patch it up later."

Kasumi sighed and crossed her arms with an annoyed click of her tongue. "You're so stubborn, just do it will you? I wouldn't have to patch you up if you hadn't just _used_your barriers and protected yourself."

"I was too busy protecting you to use them on myself!" Miranda retorted angrily, her usually calm façade breaking for half a second before the other woman burrowed back into her shell with her face returning to its impassive expression. "Now if you really won't leave me alone until I relent then you can help by shutting up for a second."

The thief tried to remain as impassive as Miranda but failed the moment her eyes caught Miranda's own, breaking out into a smile that made the other woman turn away from her as she unzipped her catsuit and tugged it down to reveal her shoulder to the thief, the bullet wound showing clearly even in the little light the _Black Wand_had to offer.

Kasumi was no expert at bullet wounds but at least the bullet had gone cleanly through otherwise it would have been an absolute bitch to get out, but luckily for her all she had to do was clean Miranda up with some antiseptic and then patch her up with some bandages; overall the job would probably take less than an hour if she was lucky and Miranda didn't squirm.

Taking the hint presented to her Kasumi sat next to the Cerberus operative on the bed, picking up the cotton bud she had laid out for herself and dipping it into the antiseptic before bringing it up to Miranda's face and dabbing it at her nose playfully with a giggle escaping her when Miranda swatted her away with an impatient noise passing through her lips.

Continuing from where she left off, Kasumi took the opportunity to move in behind Miranda and spread her legs so that her feet could touch Miranda's under the thin sheets of the duvet cover, letting herself meld against Miranda in this comfortable position so that she would at least be able to do more work on Miranda's shoulder without becoming uncomfortable.

Kasumi reached over to dab the cotton bud into the antiseptic again before moving up again so that she was directly behind Miranda, left hand on the woman's uninjured shoulder to hold Miranda steady and the other tracing the wound carefully with the tips of her nails before she pressed down as gently as possible; answering Miranda's tensed body with a small chuckle and a brush of her lips against the other woman's back – by complete accident of course if one did it so faintly that it could be nothing but an accident.

The thief was just about to look up and dab at the wound again however was immediately arrested by Miranda's cerulean hues staring at her, narrowed and apprehensive and curious and honestly Kasumi had no idea what to do now when Miranda kept looking at her like that.

So she cleared her throat, hoping it would stop the brunette from looking at her; but of course no such luck, it was Miranda Lawson after all and Miranda Lawson could apparently not be fazed by her in the slightest unless she did something incredibly stupid.

And Kasumi liked doing stupid things, even if it did make Miranda…

"Thank you for doing this for me," Miranda interrupted Kasumi's thoughts with a little nod of her head towards the thief, reaching out to grab at Kasumi's wrist when the thief went to move it away. "I know I haven't exactly been charitable towards you since you came to me."

Kasumi responded by playfully punching at Miranda's uninjured shoulder, using the distraction of Miranda wincing to dab even more at the bullet wound Miranda had obtained from the VI's gun. "Gee, you're getting this worked up about me fixing up your shoulder?"

"I'm thanking you for everything you've done," Miranda spat out with annoyance at the obliviousness that seemed to dog Kasumi as if it was by nature alone. "And I'm not going to say any more about it, so thank you and just carry on doing what you're doing before you become even more insufferable."

Kasumi halted in what she was doing to let the words sink in, readjusting the strap of Miranda's bra in an attempt to refocus on the situation at hand without turning into some mess that would cause herself and Miranda to cringe at the ridiculousness of it all.

_'Oh fuck it,_' was the brief thought that sped through Kasumi's head before she engulfed Miranda into a tight hug, pressing her face against the nape of the other woman's neck and breathing in her scent and the sound of her startled gasp.

"You know the best thing about you Miranda?" Kasumi murmured into Miranda's skin, nuzzling slightly despite herself and her inner ranting at how incredibly stupid she was being by holding Miranda like this when in truth Miranda and Shepard had not even been split apart for a week yet; it was almost as if by touching Miranda like this meant that Kasumi was somewhat deceiving Shepard and not caring one flying fuck – a thing that was far from the truth. "It's not the things that you say, it's the things you don't say. I think that's one of your best qualities."

After that confession the thief quickly pulled away, swinging her legs back over the bed herself and Miranda sat at and getting up from her sitting position to throw a smirk over her shoulder at the confused look that was spread over the other woman's face; it was always an amusing sight after all to see none other than Miranda Lawson become bemused at something.

"Did I just confuse you?" Kasumi drawled with another laugh rushing past her lips before she could stop it, leaning over Miranda to obtain the bandage she had left at Miranda's side and kneeling down next to the woman on the bed with her hazelnut eyes glittering with mirth.

Miranda remained as stiff as a board the moment Kasumi touched her from under her armpit, mechanically lifting her arm upwards so that the thief could lace the bandage up and over her wound several times before Kasumi tied it into a knot with a forceful tug that made a small hiss of displeasure come from Miranda's mouth.

"You made me feel strange I'll give you that," Miranda finally replied after the second time Kasumi retied the knot, quirking a brow at the still smiling thief. "It also makes me wonder what your real motive is, surely you can't…"

"Can't what? Be nice to you? Think you're nice?" Kasumi interrupted Miranda with a roll of her eyes, settling her chin on the very edge of the bed to stare up at the loyalist. "Because I do think those things, even when you aren't particularly nice to me, I still think you're a nice person once you let down your walls now and then. I bet loads of people can't say they're nice, but you can."

Kasumi patted Miranda's hand then, cocking her head to the side as she did so and once more letting a grin overtake her face. "You're my friend, even if you don't want me to be yours and well…"

Kasumi didn't quite know if she should go on, it wasn't any of her business talking to Miranda about personal issues that were harsh enough that they brought Miranda to tears, but she couldn't just leave sleeping dogs lie now could she? It just seemed…wrong.

"You can talk to me if you want," the thief whispered quietly with her eyes cast downwards onto her own feet, anything to avoid any scathing look Miranda might send her way. "When you're upset at night, you can talk to me if you want because if you haven't noticed just yet I am really, _really_good at talking."

Again Kasumi took the time to pat Miranda's hand before she straightened herself up and practically launched herself out of Miranda's room, rushing down the walkway with not one look behind her.

She was afraid that if she did look back, she would become lost in Miranda and everything about her and goddamn it her travelling with Miranda was not supposed to end up with her feeling so confused and frantic.

All she had wanted was the tech, and now she was in this mess.

She had never wanted this to happen, _never_.


	11. Hopelessness

**Chapter 11: Hopelessness**  
><em>"I'm not a hero," Kasumi responded with a look in her eyes that made a sudden lump appear in Miranda's throat.<em>

* * *

><p><strong>F<strong>or once Miranda did not complain as they landed on the planet of Gellix, instead she simply laced her arm around Kasumi's shoulder and allowed the thief to help her up from her sickbed and down the _Black Wand's_ corridor towards the exit where they would be greeted by a team on the landing pad.

Oh of course she had complained adamantly the moment Kasumi had told her of where their destination was to be, even going as far as warning the thief that if she did not turn the ship around then (and tell her why they were going there) she would personally throw her out of it – which of course had meant that the only option Kasumi had been able to take was to simply lock the door until they had arrived.

Izzy followed after them with his yellow tail flickering to and fro, looking like he was the king of this damned ship as he sauntered past the two lumbering women (Kasumi shot the cat a glare as he turned his gaze on her just to flick his tail haughtily in her direction) with a meow escaping him.

The only time Miranda actually started was at the symbol of Cerberus that appeared as the hatch opened up for them, her body had tensed in Kasumi's arms and she had caught the operative's eyes widening as memories (it must have been memories) started to flood right into the front of Miranda's mind.

"Hey," the thief murmured tenderly the moment she felt those tense muscles of Miranda's clench angrily at the sight of the Cerberus logo on the base of their destination, her own hand tightening around Miranda's waist and arm, "it's fine, we're safe here – they aren't the Cerberus we should be running from, believe me, I checked,_ twice_!"

The Cerberus operative glanced at her then, eyes still tight around Kasumi's shoulders and her mind racing through every possible scenario on why they were here, why Kasumi would be leading her to this place without telling her and without complaining that she would slow her down? Why?

Then it clicked.

"You're leaving me here aren't you?" Miranda muttered in aside to the thief, briefly glancing over at the Cerberus team coming towards them from the landing pad before directing her gaze back onto Kasumi, "it's why we're here isn't it? You're leaving me behind."

Kasumi surprised her by staring straight back at her with a look in her eye that made Miranda's throat clog up as a wave of emotion (emotions she quickly clamped down deep within her chest) washed over her, threatening to drown her very being with its haunting sensation that caused Miranda to cling more tightly onto the other woman next to her.

The ex-Cerberus operative cleared her throat and looked away from Kasumi's gaze, taking an unsteady step forward to follow on after the thief as they made their way down towards the landing pad with an unease in their steps that rivalled the anxiety Miranda now felt in her stomach at the understanding on why Kasumi had led her here in the first place.

"If I had any strength right now I'd kick your ass to the next millennium," Miranda muttered angrily under her breath as she shook her head, limping even faster down the landing pad to try and keep up with Kasumi's all of a sudden hasty footsteps. "You can't expect me to stay in this rat hole whilst you go look for Oriana by yourself, I won't let you do it."

Kasumi chuckled and from the bitter way it sounded it made Miranda bristle at how indignant it made _her_ look in comparison.

"Sweetie you don't have much of a choice," was the only thing Kasumi answered her with before the thief called out to the approaching Cerberus group, a smile on her face that made Miranda withdraw her previous statement on what she thought of this absurd notion of leaving her behind, "hey! Hey Jacob, told you I'd bring her back safe didn't I? That means you owe me ten credits, pay up!"

Miranda glanced up once more at the group of Cerberus scientists and soldiers for her eyes to widen at the realisation that indeed Jacob Taylor was accompanying the group, a smile on his face that almost made her sob at seeing it once more when she had been oh so sure that seeing such a wonderful sight of her friend's face would never again happen in this life time.

She had said goodbye to him before she had departed on the run from the Illusive Man, had spent the night lying next to him on an old abandoned deck chair with their guns still in their hands as the gazed up at the stars that twinkled down above them with a knowledge that neither of them were capable of understanding; it had been a night of peace and tranquillity that at the same time had made them even more frightened than before at the prospect of the Reaper threat.

Jacob had turned to her just before he had fallen asleep, eyes droopy from exhaustion that it had made her smile briefly before she could focus on what he was saying.

"You scared?" He had muttered to her, his hand gingerly reaching down to pat at her arm with a sense of discomfort that Miranda had slowly grown used to when it came to Jacob; she would even go as far as saying that she liked it, but regardless what she thought, he would always be this way with her even if she did decide to protest.

But looking at him now? Miranda could hardly remember what she had said to him at that moment, but whatever she had said it didn't matter anymore because now when she looked at him she felt almost an overwhelming sense of hope at seeing someone like Jacob Taylor (the boy, the man) in front of her, alive, happy, grinning…It was all so surreal.

"Well I'll be shit-faced," Jacob Taylor announced the moment he was close enough to grab her other side and breathe warm air onto Miranda's cheek, a sensation that immediately made Miranda relax back into the heat of him without hesitation. "When Kasumi said she was bringing you in I thought she meant in a body bag, glad to know that I was wrong."

Miranda quirked a dark brow at the man beside her, only just about stifling a smile from appearing on her face, "I suppose I should thank you for the vote of confidence then? Truly Jacob, I thought you would know it would take more than a few Cerberus assassins to stop me."

He laughed and with that she allowed him and Kasumi to help her wobble back up towards the base a few feet up the way from the landing pad, only stopping when she truly felt as if she would break her other leg if she didn't and when she felt that something was out of place in the environment she was in. And something was out of place, that much was obvious, but she just did not know what it was.

Kasumi's hand on her waist felt nice and comforting, almost as if it belonged there, as if it was the only thing that was keeping her steady and for that reason alone Miranda did not make any complaints when the thief tightened her grip on her waist; instead allowing herself to learn further into Kasumi's side with a slow trust that was starting to warp her very thoughts when it came to the thief next to her.

But even that did not reassure her and from the look on Kasumi's face the thief knew that also, and how could she not? Miranda had not taken the news well, how was she supposed to work in a base of the people who were planning her demise even as she breathed right at this moment? This was _insanity_.

Their effort was progressive but slow and many times did Miranda think of just letting them both go and force herself to walk on her damaged leg despite the fact she knew it would do nothing but make her look even more ridiculous than she had looked before, but god help her, she just… She needed to get back on the field as fast as humanly possible, before she went insane and started talking to herself.

Miranda was brought back to the present by the sound of Jacob speaking over her head to Kasumi, his voice hushed in a way that instantly made Miranda suspicious.

"Hey, we got that thing you wanted us to scavenge up," Jacob started to say but cut himself off all of a sudden, most likely being silenced by the look Miranda could not see (yet knew) Kasumi was giving him so that he would shut his damn trap, "yeah, well, it's in the back with Brynn and the other scientists you've met before, so if you would be kind enough to pick it up before you leave…"

Miranda's ears pricked up slightly at the mention of Brynn and she chose to ignore the subject of whatever Kasumi wanted (and didn't want her to hear) by pushing it to the back of her mind, instead allowing herself to analyse the woman whom had been with Jacob the day Miranda had left for the Citadel to see if there were any signs, signals or what have you that would identify to her that Brynn was trustworthy or not – an analysis she had been doing on many people as of late, even Kasumi Goto who smiled pretty like there was nothing wrong with the world and yet could not tell her a damn thing.

Kasumi met her gaze once more then and for a split second Miranda felt as though she was going to fall, as if every bit of strength she had worked up inside herself was now completely wasted and she had no other choice but to stare back at the thief lest she lose herself in a despair and another powerful sensation (one she did not understand) that gripped onto her with tightness that made her want to gasp out loud.

She gripped harder at the thief's waist, eyes clouding up with tears of pain the moment she let herself become clumsy and gently pressed her broken leg down onto the surface of the floor, and yet it did not seem to matter anyway because Kasumi was there and perhaps that was all that mattered – that Kasumi was there, that she had been there for longer than Miranda had expected anyone else to be, longer than even Oriana or Jacob or Ish or…

"You seriously need to be more careful sweetie," Kasumi's concerned voice broke through the rest of Miranda's thoughts, momentarily paralyzing her until she remembered why the thief had said so in the first place, "otherwise it'll be more than a few weeks before I come back, and I expect your leg to be on the road to recovery by then – or, knowing how you heal with your fancy genetics, good as new."

"No pressure then," Miranda responded back with her lips turning downwards sourly at the thief as she once more started up on her staggered gait.

"None at all."

As soon as they had neared the base did Miranda notice a shift in the temperature, of course it seemed like an obvious thing to notice but the heat wave that hit her in the face made her lips tingle and for her nostrils to flare as the familiar scent of acid burning made her scrunch her nose up in disgust; what the hell was going on around here anyway with Jacob and these scientists? When had this all happened?

Jacob must have noticed the look on her face and started to steer her to the right away from the source of the smell, instead turning her towards a narrow corridor where she could tell the other inhabitants slept and probably now where she would be sleeping thanks to Kasumi bringing her to this godforsaken planet – because even if the thief had meant well, it did not mean Miranda would enjoy staying here whilst Kasumi did…whatever she was going to do.

She realized soon enough that Jacob was explaining the outlines of the area to her, pointing at random doors and telling her what was happening in there, or whom slept there and the like; overall it was a truly dull experience and she knew Jacob would not take it offensively if she decided to blank out, which she then proceeded to do as her mind wandered back onto what had happened on Tiptree and the names herself and Kasumi had recovered.

They were in no way recognizable to her nor Kasumi, but whomever they were it was obvious that they had a connection to wherever Oriana was and if that was true then Miranda would personally make sure (if she had to haul her cripple ass out of bed anyway) Kasumi went and did what was asked of her and would also severely kick the thief's ass if she did anything Miranda didn't particularly like.

All she needed was Oriana back and somewhere where she would be safe, somewhere where Miranda would be able to rely on (even if it was only for a short while) as she went to help Shepard and the rest of the Normandy crew once she was done; once Oriana was safe she would also be rid of any other burdens – like keeping Kasumi alive for one.

'_You haven't kept her alive,'_ Miranda thought bitterly to herself as she was hauled around a corner to go through another long corridor where she could just about see an infirmary at the very end; no doubt her home from home for the time being if she was to be staying here, '_it's been the exact opposite, without her I would have di__ed a thousand times with my leg being the handicap that brought me down in the first place, and she bloody well knows it too but she's too chivalrous to say anything about it.'_

A meow brought Miranda's gaze down towards the blonde kitten darting inbetween hers and Jacob's legs, the feline pausing momentarily to stare up at her (almost as if he was waiting for her) before departing with another little yelp that had Kasumi laughing besides her and caused Jacob to shake his head with a fondness that made Miranda feel that much safer for some reason or other.

Her instincts however told her not to feel such a way and immediately caused her to tense once more even as they stopped at a door to her right, Jacob leaning forward to unlock the section of the door before said door folded back and allowed them entrance so that they could enter the clean-cut, if somewhat pristine, (white walls, white floors, white bed sheets) room.

It was a room that was designed for death, Miranda quickly decided once she took every corner of the room in with a suspicious gaze, a room that was made to be the last thing she ever saw – and if not her then whomever people had placed in here before, for this was most certainly not a room for the living; it couldn't be with its white walls and the smell of sanitizer that made her nostrils flare, this was not a room for the living.

Even Kasumi noticed that from the look of her face, and she was not one to usually complain about where they slept considering that she had suggested sleeping in a garbage chute back when they had been on Earth and it had looked like they were going to be caught by Alliance forces for squatting up in Big Ben; not that Miranda would allow the thief to sleep in that sort of place anyhow, it was unknown whether one would catch anything from sleeping in that sort of place.

Jacob and his group finally stopped once they neared the end of the bed Miranda was to be situated on, her old friend gently grabbing her from under her thighs to place her up the bed where she could rest her head and finally see the rest of the group that had accompanied them up to these Cerberus headquarters; and perhaps with this knowledge she would also be able to put names to these people if they ever decided to betray her or Jacob at this time and sell them back to the Illusive Man.

A small blonde woman with freckles to Jacob's right was called Alice Wesley, she had been part of the team that had helped with Project Lazarus, had worked directly under Miranda performing menial tasks in the background whenever it was required of her, yet now she looked at her as though she could not put a name to her face and was instead trying her hardest not to rush away when Miranda let her cool gaze fall on her.

It was a shame Miranda could not recognize anyone else on the team but she tried not to let that bother her too much, she would find out soon enough once she got Jacob on his own because he probably knew more than anyone as well that she would react negatively to being in unknown territory with nobody else to talk to apart from him considering Kasumi felt it was a good thing to wander off and leave her by herself.

Izzy interrupted her musings by jumping on the bed to crawl up and settle in her lap, curling up into a yellow ball and purring gently in a way that made Miranda freeze for half a moment before she settled her hand on the top of the kitten's head to stroke at him tenderly, it was a move that she wasn't used to when it came to affection and she found it was even more disconcerting to display it in front of a room full of strangers, Jacob and Kasumi – _especially_ Kasumi.

A nod from Jacob however meant that the rest of the Cerberus team soon left them, the one girl Miranda had recognized grabbing onto Kasumi's arm for half a second to lean in and whisper something into the thief's ear before she too departed after her fellows; leaving only the three of them left in the room with an uncomfortable silence hanging between them that was only broken when Jacob sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Cerberus assholes that did this to you right Miranda?" He asked with a shaky laugh that could only mean he was trying to repress the urge to lose his temper with a restraint Miranda personally envied at times, "could be the only sort of people I see that fuck up a leg like yours and leave you alive."

"It wasn't their intention to leave me alive," Miranda assured him with one of her brows arching in disdain as a faint twinge in her leg started to creep up and settle at the very top of her thigh, "and I wouldn't be alive at all if Kasumi hadn't come back to get me."

Miranda met the thief's eyes then and she had no idea why the look of discomfort made her heart still for half a second but it did and all she could do was continue staring, even when her eyes started to prick in irritation and she had no other choice but to blink despite the fear that if she did so then the look that she had captured on Kasumi's face would then disappear forever.

Luckily for her it didn't, and it continued to show on the thief's face even when Kasumi swallowed deeply and whispered, _"I'm not a hero,"_ with a look in her eyes that made a sudden lump appear in Miranda's throat – not a hero? Perhaps that was true, neither of them were heroes, but the moment Kasumi had come bursting through those doors to save her…Well, Miranda had never liked heroes.

Kasumi had to be the only exception at that point.

"Damn straight you're a hero," Jacob interrupted their stare-out session with a rumble in his chest that escaped past his lips as a chuckle, "you saved the only friend I have left in this godforsaken galaxy, I'd give you a medal if I was some fancy Alliance officer but either way I'm sure you'd just sell it."

That brightened the thief up considerably until she was literally bouncing on her toes, lips wide in a grin that caused a spurt of warmth to appear in Miranda's stomach at seeing the sight of something that had once been so familiar and now so unnatural it was actually making her feel…different.

Either way Miranda was once more forced back to the present to see that the thief was now starting to back out of the door, chuckling nervously at the both of them despite not being in any immediate danger.

"Yeah well, I'm just going to go find that medical assistant you were talking about earlier on Jacob," Kasumi murmured, pressing her thumb over her shoulder even as she proceeded to depart from the room, her voice getting progressively smaller as she moved away from hearing distance, "y'know, going to see…needed any help…"

The door shut and instantly Jacob was at her side, the warmth of his body causing Miranda to shudder at the realization that not only was she freezing but she had missed him more than she could ever admit to even herself, never mind Jacob, the man who had held her body in his hands once and had promised he would never let it go.

Words of a lust-filled man, not of a friend, but those words could be forgiven with how he sat next to her right now with every intention of not leaving until every broken bone was fixed and every hurt was healed – for this was Jacob's way, whether Miranda accepted it about him or not, this way his way.

"You scared me," he whispered and his dark hand clasped over her own that was rested on Izzy's head, squeezing her hand to make her smile even when she knew that in truth she really did not want to, "makes me thankful that you were travelling with Kasumi, I don't even want to imagine what would have happened to you without her with you and I damn well know you can look after yourself Miranda, but looking at you right now? What the hell Miri?"

Miranda raised a hand to cut him off from saying anything else, "don't give me a speech that I've already heard Jacob, I already know what I look like to other people; Kasumi's been kind enough to remind me of that every day since she's accompanied me and it hasn't got any easier hearing _her_ say it."

"Then it's a good thing you're staying here for a while, I don't want you going off with Kasumi in the state you're in," Jacob answered back with his dark coal eyes boring deeply into her azure orbs of storm and sea, a clash of colour that made Miranda sink further back into the bed she was resting on. "And you know what that means don't you? No sneaking off."

Miranda repressed a smile by touching the corners of her lips with the very tips of her fingers, "I'm hurt Jacob."

Jacob rolled his eyes in response and let out a 'uh-huh' sound before he let out a harsh breath through his nose, the sound causing her to cringe at the thought that perhaps Jacob was thinking what everyone else was thinking but was far too kind to say it; it would not surprise her one bit at the thought that Jacob did not trust her to do what he said he wanted her to do – to rest.

They all were telling her the same thing, to rest, to relax as best as she could, yet Kasumi was the only one Miranda actually found herself understanding in this particular incident considering the thief also had family out there whom she too had no idea where they was; it wouldn't surprise Miranda if the thief dropped the search for Oriana altogether to go search instead for her family – and she knew she wouldn't be able to blame her either, for she understood more than anyone what it was like.

Miranda stroked the delicate whiskers of Izzy's face, "Kasumi's been here before." It wasn't a question; the hard (suspicious) tone of her voice said that to Jacob a thousand times over and caused him to flinch as though Miranda had struck him and well, if that had not made the answer obvious enough then the pained expression on his face certainly did.

Why did it hurt her so much that Kasumi had known where Jacob was and yet she hadn't? Did she not account anymore? Did he not think she would care anymore? If so, he could not be further from the truth – Miranda hadn't stopped caring the moment she had pulled away from Jacob Taylor to board her ship and soar away to the Citadel, she had never stopped caring, stopped wondering.

"She's looked after you," Jacob could only mutter in reply, but his words cut Miranda deep enough that she could only breathe in deeply as a response and allow each word to flow through her until she felt as though she was going to fall into each memory she had of Kasumi Goto protecting her throughout their time together, "kept you fed and made sure you didn't do anything stupid, can't say I'm regretful that you ended up with Kasumi near you at this time."

"She didn't come find me out of her own free will Jacob, she found me on Shepard's orders," Miranda found herself snapping at her friend, her gaze cutting away from him to stare heatedly at the yellow bundle that was still resting in her lap.

"Still owe her your life," Jacob reminded her without missing a beat, his dark charcoal eyes narrowing when Miranda let out a frustrated groan in response to his small smile that had appeared the moment the woman in front of him had flushed slightly at his words, "you can't deny that now can you? Been travelling together a while yeah?"

Miranda fought back a growl that was threatening to escape from her throat by readjusting herself on the bed, trying not to wince when her leg connected with Jacob's side and instead showing that the only sign that she was in pain was by how her fist came down to thump the mattress – an action that made the kitten on her lap hiss angrily before departing the bed to curl up in a corner where the heat generators were.

"Stop it," Miranda hissed once she had finally finished adjusting her weight onto the bed, glowering at her former lover with an impatience that made Jacob shrink back from her slightly. "Stop acting as though it's something more than it is. I have no idea why Kasumi is with me apart from the fact she feels like she can't leave me – bullshit to that, because she's doing a fine job of that now."

"She's leaving you here to rest because she knows otherwise you'd walk through hell with that leg of yours!" Jacob retorted with a rage that made Miranda pause for a moment to observe the taut lines of his face, "c'mon Miri, you know as well as I do that you would ignore everything just to be back into battle again, and we both know how that would end up."

'_I'd be dead,'_ Miranda thought with a shaky laugh escaping her as she shook her head, laying her dead down to rest on the pillows given to her to look up at the ceiling with the goal of trying to distract herself from the rest of the world around her, which by the way, was just not working out for her no matter how hard she tried. '_We'd both be dead considering how stubborn she is, she probably wouldn't leave until the very last second.'_

It's that thought that allowed Miranda to drop off to sleep before she could stop herself from seeing Jacob's face fade in and out of darkness, watching him one second before he disappeared another and for that action to repeat until the next thing she saw was the white ceiling again, yet whilst that was the only thing she could see the next thing she felt was something being pressed into her thigh, something that felt oddly like a _foot_.

Her head was heavy, that much was obvious, and it made Miranda feel as though it was very much alike of the grains of sands, how it clung together in a desperate fashion and could only be moved through by a strength that took everything from out of a person; a feeling that Miranda now felt as she tilted her head to the side to look into the hood of Kasumi Goto, whom may she add, was fast asleep next to her.

It hurt to look at her and see nothing under the darkness of the hood apart from the thief's elongated nose peeking out from underneath, it was almost as if she was looking at a treasure from above the water and each time she tried to reach her destination it slipped from her fingers and all Miranda was left with was this large space between them with nothing to fill it apart from their own secrets that neither of them were willing to tell the other.

'_Tell me what you're hiding from me,_' Miranda had wanted to demand off the thief once when she had been fighting sleep with Kasumi hovering over her like the dedicated guardian she appeared to be – that she was, god damn, that she was – with a wet cloth that the thief dragged down her forehead and over her mouth to quench her parched throat, _'tell me and I'll try.' _

She didn't know what she would try to do, but Miranda knew she would try regardless and that was all Kasumi could hope for if it ever came to the day Miranda Lawson would lose her patience and demand answers; but not now it seemed, no, she was far too tired even in this waking state and the only thing Miranda could do to try and get rid of the ache was to read towards the thief with her hand and wrap it around a thin wrist that was being pressed into Kasumi's own side.

It was a strange sensation to touch someone as intimately as this (even if in truth it was hardly intimate at all) after what had occurred since the Reaper invasion, yet Miranda found herself not minding as she slowly turned on her side to become lost and intrigued by the shallow breathing coming from the thief that lay next to her and how such a simple sound made her feel as though everything was back to the way it was before, that the world Miranda had always known focused solely around the sound of this woman breathing.

And that realization just made Miranda want the damn thief gone, to leave and never return because the sound of Kasumi breathing was not supposed to make her feel this way; was not supposed to render her speechless with awe in her eyes and her own breathing deep and husky with a desire that knocked the ex-Cerberus operative for six because never had she ever, _ever_ felt about Kasumi this way – _ever_.

But of course she probably would not have been feeling this enticement for the thief if not for the fact that Shepard had left her, even if that excuse did make her sound slightly less bothered about the Reaper situation it was the only excuse Miranda could think of and therefore was the one thing that made her release Kasumi's wrist to tug her own hand under the cool side of her pillow.

Damn it all, trust that her own traitorous body would make her feel this strange attraction to the thief right when there was a damn Reaper invasion going; bloody hormones, they had been her demise once before considering her little rut with Jacob back when they had been both working on Project Lazarus and because of the consequences of that Miranda knew that she would most certainly not make that same mistake again – especially with Kasumi Goto, a woman she trusted even when every single inch of her body told her not to do so.

Miranda had forgotten the last time she had not listened to instinct, perhaps it had been such a little thing to forget that it was nothing to worry about? Or perhaps it was the opposite, something so large and horrible that Miranda she had repressed it with every fibre of her being until it felt like it was nothing more but a distant memory.

Everything felt like that now days, not real, a memory – sometimes it felt like Miranda was losing her goddamn mind in this stifling stillness that had been thrust upon her.

"Penny for your thoughts miss?" Kasumi Goto's voice was a splendour that snapped Miranda from out of her thoughts, pulling her attention onto the thief next to her and causing her brow to crease at how she hadn't noticed the thief waking up, how she had become so distracted in her thoughts that it had seemed to dull her senses; it was a sensation Miranda Lawson was not used to, and didn't particularly like when she thought that it would be just as easy for others to do the same, others that were not like Kasumi that would not think twice about sticking a knife in her front instead of her back.

Still Miranda felt that answering Kasumi was probably the most decent thing she could do right now, after all the thief had done for her Miranda felt as though not answering Kasumi would have probably hurt more than doing something else entirely, like scowling for example and such…

So she turned her gaze back onto her companion, blue eyes wide and alert even as she began to speak, "I was wondering what you were doing sleeping next to me when the last thing I remember is Jacob telling me you would be leaving soon."

Instantly Kasumi shrugged in a way that could only mean that she thought the question was hardly anything worth noting, like a passing thought travelling her by with little to no meaning that held an unworthiness not fit for the thief's time; it was that sort of thing that made the hairs on the back of Miranda's neck stand up in both suspicion and frustration of what was to come next from Kasumi's mouth.

"I don't really want to leave," Kasumi murmured back after a few moments, shocking Miranda into a silence that she only covered up by causing her face to harden back into a look of curiosity rather than the surprise that juddered through her system the moment the thief had spoken, "and can you blame me? This place is cosy; that you've got to at least admit because hey presto! They bring you breakfast and everything!"

And as if she knew Miranda would not believe her the thief sat up to reach down to something at the bottom of the bed, moving back up a moment later with a bowl of steaming porridge in her hands that made Miranda's stomach rumble instantly once the smell of syrup and cooked grains infiltrated her nostrils; filling her up with a desire to eat that Miranda had not felt for a very long time what with finding Oriana and the only distinguishable food available being rations that tasted like foul poison each time she chewed.

She took the bowl from the thief and spooned the porridge into her mouth, restraining a moan at how delicious it tasted against her tongue and instead focused her gaze on the thief next to her, eyes burning brightly in the light of the room to bounce off the chocolate brown that was Kasumi Goto's hues; their whole intense gazing session (because Miranda refused to call it anything but that) making her burn with a want that shamed her to the fullest extent considering she still hadn't gotten over the possibility that perhaps Kasumi was more dangerous than she was leading Miranda to believe.

But at the same time Miranda found herself trusting Kasumi despite what her mind told her, because now after Shepard's influence it had become quite easy to listen to her heart (even when she didn't particularly want to) and damn the consequences, to become less calculated, to become less… like herself.

"Besides you'll miss me if I leave and…" It's at that moment Miranda realized the thief had been rambling (as she always did, and honestly Miranda was trying hard not to find it endearing) away without her taking much notice, it was perhaps always going to be this way between them but regardless Miranda could only catch snippets of Kasumi's sentence before the thief fell silent, "…and don't say you won't, because I've got things to sell too, but I'll be back. I always find some way to come back."

Miranda arched a brow at the Asian woman, shaking her head as she spooned another spoonful of porridge into her mouth, chewing slowly before speaking. "You're full of it Goto."

Kasumi grinned and bumped her shoulder against Miranda's then; sending heat to Miranda's broken leg that made it tingle and for her eyes to avert away from the thief's to stare into her bowl of porridge. She was starting to hate everything, a bit like a petulant child and she hated _acting like that too._ Damn the thief, damn everything about her, damn her for being understanding when she had no right to be, damn her for caring when Miranda had given her every reason not to do so, damn her…

"You can trust me you know?" Kasumi finally spoke up, startling Miranda from her thoughts and almost causing her to knock her porridge out of her lap and onto the floor with the only thing stopping the event from occurring was the thief's lightning fast reflexes that caught the very rim of the bowl, steadying it with a chuckle escaping her as she did so. "I know you don't think you can at times, but I haven't got any ulterior motives or anything to be helping you; I just am."

Now that the matter is being addressed – and Miranda is somewhat pleased not by herself – Miranda tilted her head up higher, staring deeply into Kasumi's eyes with not a flicker of the want or hesitation that had been there before; no, everything now was in the haze of ice and every little thing seemed like something that Miranda could not, should not, trust.

Miranda's hands are perfectly still, a sign of how calm she felt (when she was anything but) when looking into Kasumi's eyes. "How about you start by telling me why you're doing this for me, surely Shepard's influence over you doesn't make you feel that you have a right to follow me around, or am I wrong?"

Kasumi nodded instantly with a look on her face that made Miranda's throat feel dry at the absolute determination chiselled onto the features of the thief, it was a strange look on Kasumi's features yet it did nothing but make Miranda feel an odd sense of disquiet and for the discomfort in her belly to intensify.

"You're wrong," Kasumi answered her with another nod of her head, shrugging carelessly as though she had no other thing to worry about in this world full of Reapers and Cerberus assassins trying to hunt and kill them both. "I'm helping because I care, not because Shepard told me to. If I didn't care, then why would I put up with you, hm?"

Miranda had a funny feeling the thief had somehow insulted her and snorted at the possibility of it, amused at how something that should of raised her hackles instead made her smile and shake her head because somehow she found this side of the thief endearing instead of annoying; it was a thing she still hadn't got used to and would probably still not get used to regardless of what progressed between them – it was just another reason piled on another on why it was probably for the best she and Kasumi went their separate ways for a while.

And she was glad that was in her head too, for goodness sake, she was starting to sound like a love-sick teenager; dear god if she started singing a 21st century love song about going her own way then she would not hesitate in putting a bullet through her head because now she was starting to behave like _Oriana_ did when it came to boys.

"You care too much then," Miranda finally spat out her words as soon as that thought left her, allowing them words to sink in for them both to hear clearly before speaking once again. "Maybe I'll be the one to betray you, then where would you be?"

Kasumi smirked and once more shrugged, getting slowly up from Miranda's bed to stare down at the injured Cerberus operative. "Dead, most likely that. Why? Is that your motive? It's going well so far I have to admit, very dastardly!"

Miranda rolled her eyes: "We're always going around in circles with one another aren't we?"

"I think that's just part of our charm," Kasumi whispered and the heart-breaking tone of it caused Miranda to swallow the lump in her throat with a gulp that echoed inside the four walls of the plastic room she was trapped in with only white walls and fake air for company, "because let's face it, none of us are heroes, and we both know it so well we always expect a stab in the back – I mean just look at me, my profession doesn't exactly breed trust now does it?"

The ex-Cerberus operative paused in what she had been thinking before, instead lifting a hand up towards her face to curl underneath her chin whilst her mind processed what had just been said by none other than this woman whom she was still at unease with when in truth all she should be feeling was trust, because it was true what Kasumi said; what reason did they have to trust one another apart from their loyalty to Shepard? It was love for the Commander that had bound them together, and both knew they would never risk breaking it lest everything turn horribly in the wrong direction.

And maybe, just maybe, because there was something deeper between them that neither of them wanted to recognize; even to themselves, never mind one another!

Trust was something that didn't come easy to Miranda, but even then she found herself staring into the thief's eyes and saw something that made her pause, cock her head to the side a little and speak. "Perhaps this time it won't be as simple as a stab in the back, maybe there won't be any knives in backs whatsoever; would it really be so hard for a thief to not do that?"

"It wouldn't be hard at all." Kasumi responded curtly, crossing her arms and placing most of her weight on one foot so that her hip was cocked to the side, a look of defiance in her stance that reminded Miranda on why there was warmth in her chest. "What about you?"

"I wouldn't even think of it." And that was the god honest truth, something Miranda had always valued about anyone above almost everything else; that they had the guts, the bravery, the intelligence to tell the truth when asked. "So no more lies, no more secrets: if we're going to stick together then no more hiding things from one another, we're upfront and honest. Agreed?"

Kasumi fidgeted uncomfortably and for a moment Miranda almost felt white-hot rage wash over her at the very sight of it, however she soon restrained it once she realized that perhaps it was not as far-fetched as it seemed to believe that of course Kasumi would find it hard to be honest about absolutely everything: she was a thief after all, a thief whose livelihood was based on lies and deceit and yet here Miranda sat, demanding that if they were going to travel together then their relationship would be honest and there would be no inkling of a lie anywhere – it was a hard thing for anyone to swallow, especially for Kasumi Goto.

"Fine, _yes_, agreed," Kasumi murmured after another moment of silence, turning away from her with a sigh and flippant wave of her hand to signal that the conversation was well and truly over. "Going to propose marriage now? Or are we still going steady?"

Miranda repressed a snort, yes this was definitely the old Kasumi coming back into true form. "Get going Goto, you're going to be late with whatever you're supposed to be doing back on the Citadel."

"You know I'm going to go find leads for your sister obviously," Kasumi shot over her shoulder with a huff that was so uncharacteristically unlike her that it caused Miranda to arch a brow in concern as she watched the bone underneath the thief's suit tense up. "That and try and meet up with Shepard to discuss some intel I recovered about Reaper indoctrinated victims on Kahje. Is that honest enough for you?"

Miranda didn't know what to say about the thief's scathing tone, so instead she chose to ignore it by opting for a somewhat more gentle approach as she said her farewells with a softened voice that made the thief stop the moment she was just about to storm from Miranda's room.

"Good luck then, be careful and try not get into too much trouble," it was only the start of her farewell, but Miranda deemed it good enough that it made Kasumi look back to stare at her even as words continued to tumble out of her mouth. "And make sure you come back – too many people I've cared about haven't. It would be…a shame. To lose someone else."

Perhaps it was her own hesitance that had made the thief smile slightly once the words had left her lips, or maybe it was how she had tensed up ridiculously at her own sappy words or possibly it was the fact that Miranda had actually said she cared about someone out loud instead of actively expressing it; whatever the reason it made Miranda feel slightly weak as she watched the thief stare back at her with a look in her eyes that made the ex-Cerberus operative feel so very, very hollow inside.

Kasumi's painted lips parted and her fingers clenched around the pane of Miranda's door frame, the only sight that told Miranda that what Kasumi was saying was actively the cause of the pain that she could detect from the tension of the thief's stance.

"Sayonara koi," and just like that, Kasumi was gone.

* * *

><p><em>Hey faithful reviewers, I have other chapters planned out for this story but as always I do like to ask what some of you reviewers would like to see in the upcoming chapters of Raw, so feel free to tell me what you like, what you want to see, etc because that would be perfect thank you. (:<em>


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